An 11-year-old working on comics wants to remember 9-11, but will the MSM do the same?

NBC-KXAN gave a report about an 11-year-old who's into comics, who wants 911 to be remembered:

Benjamin Faundez loves to tell stories.

The 11-year-old Arlington boy is an avid reader and wants to be a writer one day. He’s also a film director — making tales come to life with a phone camera and help from his younger sister Florencia.

But more than anything, comics are the way Benjamin expresses himself.

“These are all the comics I’ve made over the years,” he said, scurrying into the living room with a thick white binder. Inside were dozens of comic books he’d written over the last three years, neatly slid into protective sheets to keep his creations in mint condition.

Flipping through his immense catalogue, Benjamin says he’s most fond of his fictional protagonist ‘Sacred Sargeant.’

And while he headlines dozens of comics, Sacred Sargeant was absent from Benjamin’s most notable piece — a story about the first responders who responded to the twin towers on 9/11.

‘I wasn’t supposed to be at that spot’

On Sept. 12, 2024, one day after the 23rd anniversary of 9/11, Benjamin’s parents Paulina and Miguel took their family to New York City. While the four got to experience several highlights — including the Back to the Future musical and visiting the site Miguel proposed to Paulina at — Benjamin’s fascination with recent history primarily motivated the 1,600-mile trip.

“Around second grade, I started reading these books called I Survived — historical fiction about 10-, 11-, 12-year-olds that survived natural disasters or events that like Hurricane Katrina or the Chicago Fire,” Faundez said. “I ran upon the book called I Survived the Attacks of September 11… after I read it, I decided I wanted to learn more about what happened on that day.”

That's most amazing a younger reader wants to learn more about the subject. But does the news network want to provide the clear information? Because this article is superficial in the extreme, and doesn't say a word about the Islamic religion's role in the horror. How can the tragedy be recalled properly, and how is anyone to form an opinion if they don't know what the exact motivations were that led to such an abominable incident?

Benjamin took the pin and headed through the security checkpoint but couldn’t leave Passarella empty-handed.

“I was still working on the comic book. I hadn’t finished it yet … but at that time I just felt like I had to give it to him,” Benjamin said.

Then Passarella upped the ante.

“He went back to he went back to his office and took out a flag and explained to me that on the flag was everybody’s name who died on September 11,” Benjamin said.

The two went on their way, but Passarella exchanged numbers with Benjamin’s parents. Then a couple months later, Passarella’s agency shared the encounter online — showing off Benjamin’s work to the world. [...]

‘We’re never going to forget’

100 million Americans are now too young to have a first-hand recollection of 9/11. Some were too young to have lasting memories. Others simply weren’t alive. This includes many people Passarella oversees — something he thinks about ahead of the 25th anniversary on Friday.

“The greatest challenge you have is to instill in our workforce what Ben emits through his conversation and through his actions to never forget those who lost their lives,” Passarella says. “343 firefighters, men and women went in there innocently and their lives were taken.”

Despite being born 14 years after the tragedy, Benjamin plans to continue “remembering and honoring the people who sacrificed themselves and died to protect us from the bad guys and what they did to us and what they did to the country on that terrible day.”

Twenty-five years after the attacks, Passarella says Benjamin represents something unexpected: proof that the stories of that day are still reaching a new generation.

Unfortunately, if the article itself is any suggestion, information about the ideology that led to the tragedy is not reaching new generations. Also notice how they reduce any description of al Qaeda to merely "bad guys". That hardly says anything. At worst, it's obscuring the identities of the culprits. NBC's affiliate should be ashamed of themselves for omitting any meat-and-potatoes information about 9-11. Are they even disturbed by how NYC's Muslim mayor Zohran Mamdani handed a commemoration pen to an aide named Ramzi Kassem, who served as lawyer to an al Qaeda jihadist, an act that outraged 911 Families? That's something the pre-teen comics writer could develop 5 dozen comics about for history research.

It's admirable there's a young comics creator at work who enjoys the medium as much as he does, and his interest in the subject of 911 is also important. But without knowledge, there's no defense, and NBC's doing a terrible disservice to many people affected by the tragedy by omitting crucial facts from the narrative. Let's be clear. Just because the guy in the spotlight's a youngster is no excuse for reducing the entire narrative to something so superficial. We have to hope the young fellow will be able to research the exact facts, and even interview 911 Families/survivors, which could provide some important information that could help produce plenty of history comics for modern students to check out. For now, NBC's only setting a very poor example with their obscurations.

Tucker Carlson gives his backing to Abdul el-Sayed

The phony "conservative" news host is perhaps unshockingly giving his support to the Muslim senate candidate for the Democrats in Michigan:

Democrats may be dealing with a socialist insurgency, but conservatives have their own, different in scale, perhaps, but no less concerning.

Former conservative Tucker Carlson, who still commands a loyal right-wing audience, joined forces with Saagar Enjeti, a former White House correspondent for the Daily Caller turned right-wing commentator, to effectively endorse Michigan socialist Abdul El-Sayed for Senate over Republican Mike Rogers. The duo tore into Rogers as “the most pro-Israel neocon” in existence, as they also mocked him for losing Michigan in the same year Trump carried the state in 2024.

While Carlson accuses everyone else of being obsessed with Israel, it’s a topic he clearly can’t get enough of.

“He's basically a tool of Israel in the Intel agency,” the former Fox News host said of Rogers. “How would you run someone like that?”

I think I've heard enough. Carlson continues to be unbearable, and if he believes Israel's bad, then he clearly also considers the whole of Europe illegitimate too. An utterly disgraceful, overly obsessed man who should never have been a news host to begin with.

Update: making matters worse is that vice president J.D Vance won't disavow his "friendship" with Carlson.

911 Families continue opposition to having Mamdani attend memorial service

Here's another article about 911 Families opposed to having a repulsive figure like Zohran Mamdani attending the memorial service this coming month. Here's some history of a woman who lost her husband in the attack:

Monica Iken and her husband Michael Patrick Iken were set to celebrate the second anniversary of their meeting on September 9, 2001.

The newlyweds – married 11 months prior – parted on that Tuesday morning with Michael heading to his work as a bond broker in the South Tower of the World Trade Center in NYC.

“He kissed me goodbye and said, ‘I love you; I’ll see you later.’”

A few hours later, Michael called Monica from his office and told her to turn on the television. She thought this was strange, as bond traders are the busiest in the mornings and he would not normally call until the afternoon.

“I did, and I saw this gaping hole and that a plane hit the building [the North Tower],” she recalled in a conversation with The Jerusalem Post. “He told me: ‘Everything is fine, everything is okay. They said to stay where we are. Don’t worry.’”

“Then he said, ‘I’ve got to go. I’ll call you back.’ He called me back a few minutes later and said, ‘Listen, you’ve got to call the family and friends; they keep calling me here, and there’s a lot going on.’”

Monica pulled up the phone book while still watching the TV and listening to her husband, who still sounded calm.

“I have the phone book in my left hand and the phone in the right hand, and I literally see this thing come out of the corner of the screen on the right side, like a giant jumbo jet.”

“I thought: ‘There’s no way.’ Nothing was registering. When you see something like that, your brain is not computing. I literally watched [the plane] hit the [South] Tower, and I was frozen in space because he worked in tower two on the 84th floor.”

Monica said she kept thinking Michael would get out, because his best friend did. But by September 12, she said, her “nightmare had begun.”

“To this day, I have no remains,” she told the Post. “I have nothing ... not even a ring, not even an ID, nothing.”

“I had to digest that I was newly married, trying to have a baby, and he went to work but was never coming home. And even though we went down to look for him and we did all those things, the reality was – I knew he was gone.”

Monica starts NGO, September's Mission to preserve site

After Michael was killed, Monica became concerned with the idea that the city may build over the site of all the fallen. This prompted her to start her NGO, September’s Mission.

It was founded with the primary objective of working with public and private partnerships to secure the acreage of the World Trade Center site and ensure “that we do not build over dead people in America.”

Of the approximately 16-acre site of the former World Trade Center complex, Monica and her fellow advocates managed to secure half of the site for the Ground Zero memorial.

“The good news is I have a place to go to honor my husband,” she continued. “His birthday is on September 8, so I go there on September 8. He will be 62 this September. We celebrate every year.”

“As long as I’m alive, I go to the memorial, and we sit by his name, and we have merlot, his favorite thing, and we celebrate life instead of death,” Monica said.

“He took his last breath there, his last step, and for me, that is a sacred and hallowed space. I thank God every day for that place, because if I didn’t have that place to go, I would never have survived the nightmare,” she continued.

September mission's second objective is working with families of those killed and advocating for them to receive whatever they need.

“I help them with mental health and educational programming. I do a lot of things behind the scenes,” Monica remarked.

She doesn’t take a salary, and uses her own funds to keep the organization running.

Because of her work with September’s Mission, Monica is very involved emotionally and practically with the families, so when the discussion came up in recent months about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s planned attendance at the memorial, Monica’s main concern was how the families will feel about that.

“It’s not political for me. He’s our mayor. I’m a New Yorker. It’s more about the fact that this is our time, and the people who should be there are the ones representing that time with us and were a part of that time,” she said.

“I don’t know where he stands exactly, but he doesn’t seem to be on the same page,” Monika continued, adding that she felt that Mamdani was somewhat connected to the people who “murdered our loved ones.”

“If I go to a funeral and the murderer comes, I don’t think that’s acceptable. And I’m not saying he is a murderer. I’m just saying that he wasn’t involved. I think he needs to just respect us and let us have our time, and then he can do whatever he wants.”

Mamdani should not be attending the memorial service, and he also shouldn't be working as mayor. And we must hope he won't be anywhere near the memorial site come the week of the tragedy next month.

America before the dhimmitude propaganda took hold

Tim Rice tells about how the USA got to where it is now with Islam having taken hold in the quarter century since September 11, 2001:

It’s popular among a certain sort to point out that Islam has always been a fact of American life — Thomas Jefferson owned a Koran, don’t you know — but that’s not really true. Before 9/11, Islam was only tangentially relevant in American life. As recently as 1993, the journalist Robert Kaplan was still using the term “Moslems,” which feels like “Boer” or “Hottentot” or something else we left in the 19th century.

But on September 11, 2001, Islam and America collided, and the former has been on a speedrun in our country ever since.

It’s fascinating but not entirely surprising that an Islamic terror attack on the United States somehow led to the rapid mainstreaming of radical Islam in this country. Countries tend to import bits of former enemies’ cultures, like how we all drive Hondas and the Japanese love baseball. But the acceptance of even the most vile and un-American forms of Islam was hastened by the liberal obsession with fighting “Islamophobia” during the War on Terror, an arguably good intention that paved the road down which folks like Abdul El-Sayed now trod.

Our problem is not a lack of awareness necessarily — consumers of conservative media at least are familiar with things like the footwashing station in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport and the semi-autonomous Muslim town in Texas. The problem is that even those of us paying attention don’t appreciate how quickly we got here.

As we approach the 25th anniversary of 9/11, consider the scandal that rocked the 10th: the planned construction of an Islamic community center blocks away from the site of the terrorist attack. Dubbed the “Ground Zero Mosque,” the project was almost universally derided. Howard Dean said the project was “a real affront to people who lost their lives” on 9/11, while then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called for the builders to pick a different site.

It’s hard to imagine Democrats reacting that way now, and that’s a problem. But even in 2011, things had gotten away from us. Reid and Dean broke with President Barack Obama, who defended the project. Obama may not be a secret Kenyan Muslim, but he sure did his best to make criticizing Islam socially unacceptable.

Even years before, both Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan were already enabling footholds, and there were alleged conservatives who were just as hostile as some leftists to the whole notion of daring to speak negatively about the Religion of Peace. Tucker Carlson's quite possibly one of those. Many of these same people are more than utterly willing to call even 911 Families "bigots and xenophobes", and in the past quarter century, I remember a man from Titusville, PA, claiming to be a teacher, who said that while he may not call a kid whose firefighting father died in the WTC tragedy a bigot, he would be perfectly willing to say he was wrong to come within even miles of saying anything negative about the Religion of Peace. Its makes no difference whether somebody's willing to employ crude language or not, what's offensive there is that somebody in a position of "education" is basically saying survivors of 911 and their families have no moral authority and are systematically forbidden to address serious issues like these in any way, shape or form. And it should be noted the man I speak of later embraced a book laced with anti-American metaphors that minimized sexual violence. That man, to my knowledge, died 4 years ago at just 57 years old, of an illness, but the damage people like him did to morale and unity is stunning. And that people like him were willing to support books with repulsive viewpoints speaks volumes.

I've thought at times about what Rice says on the high liklihood the Democrats today wouldn't say a word against building a mosque near Ground Zero. And the election of Zohran Mamdani to mayoral office in NYC is additionally chilling, because it speaks volumes about what kind of electorate now resides in the Big Apple, and not just Muslims themselves. It also makes clear how many non-Muslim leftists now reside in a burg I myself never felt much attachment to, and that spells serious trouble going forward. Especially if they reelect Mamdani in the next few years.

CBC tried to downplay 9-11, and desecrated the memory of victims

The CBC, one of the worst news outlets north of the border, has really dug a hole for their reputation by telling their staff not to refer to 9-11 as a terrorist attack:

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) sent a memo to its reporters and editors this week instructing them not to refer to the September 11, 2001, attack on America as a “terrorist attack.”

The memo, first reported by an astonished Warren Kinsella at the Toronto Sun, used boldface type to emphasize the directive to CBC employees.

“Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks,” the memo said bluntly.

“The hijackings led to passenger jet crashes in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Manhattan. The World Trade Center was destroyed,” the memo continued, by way of explaining why the atrocity seen by most of the world as the textbook example of a “terrorist attack” should not be described as such.

According to Kinsella, the memo originated with Basem Boshra, the Senior Director of Journalistic Standards and Public Trust at CBC News. [...]

By the time Kelly got around to Canada’s National Post, she was engaging in Matrix-level reality distortions by claiming it was “wholly inaccurate to state our journalists have been urged to declare that this was not a terrorist act” – even though the memo said literally, exactly that, and in boldface type to boot. The CBC spokeswoman was effectively arguing there is a difference between refusing to call 9/11 a terrorist attack, and definitively stating that it was not one.

Kelly also tried to justify the memo by pointing out that CBC refused to call the October 7, 2023, atrocities perpetrated against Israel by Hamas “terrorism,” an argument that did not exactly provide the escalator ride out of the moral basement that she was hoping for. [...]

Outrage quickly boiled over on both sides of the border. Conservative MP Rachael Thomas pronounced the CBC memo “absolutely shameful,” and accused the outlet of “choosing to redefine terrorism in a way that downplays the atrocity of 9/11.”

“Refusing to call it an act of terrorism dishonors the victims, their families, the survivors, and the first responders who witnessed the horrors of that day,” Thomas wrote on X.

“9/11 was an act of terrorism. Full stop. Trying to sanitize or rewrite that history is deeply offensive and does a disservice to everyone who was affected by the attacks,” she concluded.

“What possible motive could there be for sanitizing the worst terrorist attack on American soil?” asked the social media account for the U.S. House Republicans, perhaps insinuating that Canada’s public broadcaster was behaving badly due to the trade dispute between the U.S. and Canada – although, in CBC’s defense on that point, it has clearly been working on whitewashing terrorism for many years now.

What this horrific info makes clear is that, if a news source like CBC's not willing to refer to October 7 as a terrorist attack, then it's a foregone conclusion they don't consider September 11 one either, and that a news channel that's anti-Israel is more than fully willing to be anti-American. If that's what their staff believes is "justified", that's exactly why they don't deserve an audience at all. A most repulsive channel that only gives Canada a bad name.

The books Abdul el-Sayed doesn't want Black voters to see

Daniel Greenfield found information that Michigan Democrat candidate Abdul el-Sayed keeps books around his house that are offensive to Black women, and also victims of child rape:

Free Beacon reported that Abdul El-Sayed had told documentarians not to film his more Islamic bookshelf and the books contained their included ‘Dream Interpretation According to the Qur’an’ by an Islamic scholar named Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips who has some interesting views.

Philips, an unindicted terror coconspirator had promoted terrorism and in Abdul El-Sayed’s latest pedophilia scandal had “advocated that young girls are fit for marriage the moment they begin menstruating (which for some girls can begin as young as eight years old).”

Sneaking a peak at a copy of ‘Dream Interpretation According to the Qur’an’ leads to this rather ugly passage that had it shown up on the shelf of a conservative candidate would have quickly become a top news story.

Black Woman

Abdullaah ibn “Umar related that the Prophet said, “I dreamt that I saw a black woman with untidy hair going out of Madeenah and settling at Mahya’ah. I interpreted it as the epidemic of Madeeanh being transferred to Mahya’ah, namely, al-Jufu1fah.

The relationship between the black woman and the epidemic can be deduced from the word sawdaa (black), from which the words soo (evil) and daa (sickness) may be extracted.

That's one of the most horrifying things about the Religion of Peace and the koran: they consider Black women evil. And to think that el-Sayed may end up becoming a member of Congress soon! That only makes this whole repulsive scandal all the more chilling.

Federalist writer Eddie Scarry lets his hostility to Israel poke through the seams

Here's another example of how the Federalist's writers are going downhill, as their contributor Eddie Scarry, in pretending neo-cons are truly the ones against J.D. Vance, goes so far as to attack support for Israel from the right-wing side, and perpetuates the RINO opposition to the war on Iran's dictatorship:

Worth slightly more attention is what Thiessen wrote this week in The Washington Post. Recall that Thiessen is the Post content creator and former George W. Bush speechwriter whom Trump, for inexplicable reasons that may be explained in the future, has reportedly been reading and consulting privately about foreign affairs. Thiessen took an opportunity on Thursday to continue the very obviously coordinated attack on Vance planned by a slimy mix of neocons, lazy Republicans, and Israel Firsters.

Evaluating the Iran war, which has grown increasingly unpopular, even among Republicans, Thiessen wrote, “Perhaps it’s time for the president to take the advice of those who have delivered him success in Iran — not those like Vance who have failed him.”

Thiessen blames the failures in Iran not on what certainly look like short-sighted decisions by the commander in chief, but on Vance, whose primary responsibility in the conflict has been negotiating its end with Iran’s leaders. That’s at least honest. But let’s look at what Thiessen says a real victory, without any negotiation, would look like.

He wrote that the war’s objectives are: “eliminate remaining [Iranian] leadership figures; further entomb Iran’s nuclear sites; take out Iran’s remaining ballistic missile sites; destroy the economic and energy infrastructure that provides the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with a financial lifeline, as well as key highways, railroads, airports and seaports by which the regime gets financial assistance from bordering countries; and demolish Iran’s remaining defense industrial base so it cannot rebuild its destroyed capabilities.” Then, with presumably a straight face, Thiessen said, “That’s it.”

Oh, is that all?!

Well, not really. Thiessen, perhaps to his credit, didn’t even pretend to hide the ball. Though having concluded, “That’s it” — just the complete decimation of a global energy supplier’s entire transportation infrastructure and economy — Thiessen went on to do the equivalent of, But wait! There’s more! He then said the U.S. would simply have to commit to keeping American troops just off the shore of Iran in perpetuity and “provide covert support” to Iranian rebels, in hopes that they might fight their own government. You know, just like they are now! Wait, that’s not actually happening, is it? Oh well!

Mr. Scarry ignores so much of previous research it's not even funny. He relies on reports from the otherwise shoddy AP Wire, doesn't pay any attention to the Tea Party Patriots research on the USA public's support for the war, and even ignores that much of the Iranian inhabitants are unarmed, making it difficult to fight against the Iranian government savages. If that's how Scarry's going to act, can somebody like that be counted on to fight against the Islamofascist regime being established in Europe? Or even the USA itself?

With this, the Federalist continues to send troubling signs they're not dedicated to freedom and liberty any more than say, Ron Paul, who was probably the role model for some of their more questionable writers. It's utterly head-shaking as it's sad they're becoming as overrun with phonies like Scarry, much like the Democrats are becoming overrun with Islamists and communists.

There is a majority of Americans who want the war against Iran to continue

According to polling data commissioned by Tea Party Patriots, it turns out that, contrary to what even phony "conservatives" like those at the Federalist would have everyone think, many Americans do want the war on Iran to continue until its Islamofascist regime is defeated:

A recent survey has revealed that the majority of Americans support continuing the war in Iran. Sixty-two percent of surveyed general election voters agree with the statement “The United States must finish the job once and for all to protect the United States and our allies — which means ensuring that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon and can no longer threaten American lives” data from Tea Party Patriots Action found.

The poll also asserted that the numbers found in the survey should be a “reality check” for the media.

“72% of Americans — including 60% of Democrats — agree that Iran cannot be allowed to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz, which is consistent with President Trump’s policy,” Tea Party Patriots Action Chairman Jenny Beth Martin told Breitbart News.

Martin continued, “And 62% of Americans — including 56% of Independents — believe that we need to ‘finish the job’ in Iran. … There is no split in the conservative movement on this issue. … Conservatives are overwhelmingly sticking with President Trump and the American people as a whole agree with the president’s strategy.”

If the Federalist doesn't comment on these findings, that'll speak volumes about what they're really like. It's good to know there are realists in the USA now who recognize the threat Iran's regime poses if it isn't taken down entirely, and surely recognize that if a ground operation is what it inevitably takes to complete the job, just like in Iraq, it'll have to be done. So we must give the military all the backing they'll need in order to keep morale high, which helps tremendously in order to achieve vital results.

Iran's uranium enrichment centrifuges are still a danger being hidden underground

Recent reports warn that Iran's dictatorship has moved their uranium enrichment tools to a deep underground complex in Natanz:

Iran transferred thousands of uranium enrichment centrifuges to underground facilities deep inside Natanz's Pickaxe Mountain last fall, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing Israeli and US officials.

The centrifuges were transferred to the mountain following the 12-day war in June 2025.

During the war, American and Israeli strikes pummeled three of Iran’s main nuclear sites, in an operation the US called "Midnight Hammer."

US and Israeli officials noted that the transfer of sensitive equipment inside the mountain increases concerns that Tehran is working to ensure continued uranium enrichment, even in the event of a large-scale military attack on its soil.

Pickaxe Mountain is located south of the Natanz nuclear complex, the site of two of Iran’s uranium enrichment plants bombed in June 2025.

The tunnel facility under construction at Pickaxe Mountain wasn't targeted in either of the wars, according to the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a US-based think-tank focused on nuclear non-proliferation.

Satellite imagery shows that the complex was carved to a depth of more than 100 meters below bedrock, making it deeper and more fortified than the Fordow enrichment facility, a highly fortified, underground uranium enrichment facility.

I suppose the RINOs at the Federalist are okay with this? I noticed one of their writers publishing stealth propaganda against the war on Iran just late last month, and continuing their attacks on Mark Levin as well. Oh yes, and even sugarcoating JD Vance, despite how otherwise poor and questionable his own dedication to civilized values and liberty is. And the writer even made sure to scapegoat Israel stealthily too. Writers like those at the Federalist are the reason this war is being prolonged, and also puts in serious doubt whether they're really concerned about Islamofascism's infiltrations into Europe. It also makes clear they don't put much value on concepts like selflessness, let alone caring about the lives and safety of innocent and defenseless women. This is why the war has to be waged, and we can only hope the military is doing what it can to put a stop to Pickaxe Mountain's own chamber of horrors without letting the whinings of RINOs like the Federalist's get the better of them.

JD Vance shows his true colors on Joe Rogan's podcasts

The USA vice president is proving to be the one of the worst omens for Israel, and making matters worse is that he aired horrific viewpoints on the podcast of a man who already gave indications he was hostile to Israel too:

U.S. Vice President JD Vance suggested on Wednesday that some elements within the Israeli government backed an influence campaign aimed at undermining the Trump administration’s negotiations with Iran, while emphasizing that Israel remains a U.S. ally.

Speaking on Joe Rogan’s podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Vance said, “I think you have seen this very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign to try to derail the negotiation and try to derail the deal.”

“There was a Times story that came out yesterday that basically there are certain influencers in America who are being paid in order to attack the deal,” Vance said. “It lists a bunch of people who have quite literally been paid by a former Trump campaign person who was himself paid by certain elements within the Israeli government.”

He said he has been accused of taking “marching orders from Tucker Carlson” and that “there’s just so much bullsh** out there when what I’m actually trying to do is accomplish what the president of the United States told me to accomplish.”

The vice president said he had no objection to Israel attempting to influence U.S. policy, calling such efforts a routine part of international diplomacy.

“A lot of other countries do,” Vance said. “I think some are better at it than others. I think the Israelis are definitely more effective at it than most. But I wouldn’t say that they’re the only effective country by any means that tries to influence American politics.”

“I mean, why wouldn’t you?” he said. “It’s a country of 9 million people. We have 330 million people. And so, of course, they’re going to try to persuade Americans. They’re going to try to move Americans in one direction or another. I think that’s just the nature of the beast.”

I think the use of the word "beast" is disturbing, and no matter what he says about not objecting to Israel trying to influence USA policy, it's clear he is disturbingly biased. Ruthie Blum addressed the news like this:

As much as I dislike citing Maya Angelou—and absolutely loathe using a single plural pronoun to describe a single noun—one of the late activist-poet’s famous quotes is so spot on that it bears repeating: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

This certainly applies to U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who illustrated it most recently on “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

Yes, during a nearly three-hour chat with the most-streamed podcaster on Spotify, Vance yet again showed us just who he is.

Not that it was tough to do with a host like Rogan, who didn’t challenge a word his interviewee said. Oh, other than asking him what “MoU” stands for and expressing surprise that “dove” in the political context is the opposite of “hawk.”

Where blaming the Jews and Israel for the doomed memorandum of understanding with the Islamic Republic was concerned, there was no pushback. On the contrary, Rogan goaded Vance to keep going down his embarrassing rabbit hole of conspiracy theories.

These included the groyper line about sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s deep ties to the Mossad or the CIA. It was as though anti-Israel political commentators and podcasters Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens prepped the VP for the one-on-one. They undoubtedly were pleased with his performance.

Take the following passage, for instance:

“I definitely think you have seen this very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign to try to derail the negotiation and derail the deal,” he said, referring to the MoU with the Islamic Republic that his boss, U.S. President Donald Trump, had declared dead in the water mere days earlier.

Nonetheless, Vance continued in this vein, totally omitting two facts: that Tehran has been blitzing the Gulf (his only mention of the countries in that region is to say that they’re gung-ho for the MoU); and that Israel has been totally out of the fray for many weeks.

Well he certainly isn't helping to end the Iran war sooner than it could be done. Stuff like this also puts his sincerity regarding Europe into doubt. What if it turned out he had some responsibility for getting former Hungarian premiere Viktor Orban voted out? It remains to be seen if Vance will apologize for causing all the trouble he's going to cause with his conspiracy theory tactics, which aren't helping the situation one bit. Just plain embarrassing.

Update: here's what Fox News' Brian Kilmeade has to say about the subject.

USA administration cannot abandon the Iranian people who're oppressed

Jamie Fly and Katie LaRoque at Freedom House make a vital point why it's wrong for the USA administration to take any steps that would enable a sadistic dictatorship to remain in place and continue subjecting its citizens to horror stories:

In early 2026, when Iranian surgeon Alireza Golchini saw protesters with gunshot and stab wounds from the regime, he did what doctors are trained to do: he treated them. For that, Iranian authorities arrested him, charged him with “waging war against God,” and threatened him with a sentence that can carry the death penalty. His alleged crime was not violence or espionage; it was providing medical care to wounded Iranians.

His story is a reminder of a simple reality: the Islamic Republic is one of the world’s most repressive regimes. Just recently, a woman was sentenced to 74 lashes for singing in a YouTube video without a hijab, and a 17-year-old swimmer and boxer was sentenced to death for participating in a protest. The regime just executed another dissident, bringing the total number of political executions in 2026 to at least 45.

[...] For the Iranian people, however, the US-Iran deal as currently formulated is likely to deepen repression. It will strengthen the authorities that only months ago were imprisoning, executing, and killing Iranians in the streets for demanding basic freedoms and improved living conditions.

Late in 2025 and early 2026, millions of Iranians took to the streets in the most significant challenge the Islamic Republic has faced in decades. Authorities answered with a crackdown that left thousands dead and tens of thousands arrested. The regime also imposed a near-total internet shutdown that lasted for months, cutting Iranians off from one another and from a world that might otherwise have witnessed the scale of the violence. Yet reports indicate that a final agreement could bring this same regime sweeping sanctions relief, access to frozen assets, and billions of dollars in new investment. For Iranians who risked their lives demanding change, the likely outcome is not a more moderate government, but a more entrenched and repressive one.

[...] At a minimum, the United States should make any relief conditional on five things: the release of Iran’s political prisoners, an end to the executions handed down in protest cases, a binding guarantee against another nationwide internet shutdown, and the return of the Americans now imprisoned in Iran or barred from leaving—six by the assessment of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation. Tehran should also be required to come clean about the fate of kidnapped former FBI Agent Bob Levinson and help his family recover his remains. These are among the clearest and most immediate signs of whether Iranian authorities are prepared to act in good faith.

See, these are vital reasons to topple a savage dictatorship, along with exiling monsters from what you would think civilized countries. I notice that Federalist editor John Daniel Davidson, who previously took disturbing positions that put his supposed understandings of reality under question marks, is now seemingly making valid points about the state of Europe while discussing SCOTUS' defeatist positions on birthright citizenship in the USA:

In countries like France and Britain, which have large numbers of Muslim migrants, this means multigenerational communities of non-citizens with a totally different cultural and political worldview — one that’s openly hostile to the host country. They will eventually, as they are beginning to do now, carve out their own insular polities within the nation, Balkanizing the country and destroying the possibility of republican self-government or even the possibility of national survival. An Islamified Britain will no longer be Britain, but something else.

Obviously, this can't go unopposed, but then, why did Dumberson oppose the war against Iran? Considering their Islamic tyrants were financing jihadism overseas, they could also be financing infiltration into the USA through illegal immigration, and does that sit well with Dumberson? Does it sit well with him that an innocent and defenseless woman could already have been tortured over an Orwellian Thoughtcrime? If he's not willing to approve of taking serious action against sadists in Islamofascist countries like Iran, then this current editorial of his rings totally hollow. That's why what he's saying now should be approached with caution, because it's not enough to defend just your home country, and to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the plight of innocent foreigners in distress is offensive, morally or otherwise.

If the Trump administration continues to allow the Islamofascist dictatorship in Iran to continue governing, it's always possible that could ruin election chances in mid-term. And if that's what happens, it'll make clear that when serious action isn't put to use, no matter the turnout, you cannot be surprised if the public will ultimately be disillusioned with the notion certain movements like conservatives really support responsibility, and applying equal standards everywhere. Also note how the Daily Caller is writing reports that're potentially hostile to Israel, which seem to be lamenting that Israel's military wanted to terminate "negotiators" from Iran, and you know something's wrong. If those very "negotiators" harbor Islamofascist beliefs themselves and are loyal to the dictatorship, why are they considered valuable? There are no doubt movements in the country that can be considered far better candidates for replacing the tyrants, and refusing to consider them only worsens the situation.

JD Vance sets a most divisive example

I don't know what exactly is in the final "deal" between the USA and Iran, something I'll try to comment on another time, but for now, vice president J.D. Vance is not improving the situation with attacks on Israel in regards to Lebanon:

The harsh criticism leveled against Israel by U.S. Vice President JD Vance has sparked angry reactions.

Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida wrote: “Israel is our greatest ally and strongest partner in the Middle East. The evil Iranian regime wants to wipe BOTH of us off the face of the Earth. That will never happen because we will ALWAYS stand together."

“America’s unwavering support for Israel’s defense helps make the America First agenda possible, the U.S. stronger, and the world a safer place," he stressed.

Professor Jeffrey Lax of New York University, a prominent activist for the Jewish community and in the fight against antisemitism and discrimination against pro-Israel professors and students, was even sharper in his criticism.

“The most sickening part of JDVance's mid-book tour press conference? Right here, where he accuses Israel(!) of attacking civilian population centers in Beirut when every honest person on earth knows it is exactly the other way around," Lax said.

“This man CANNOT be our next president," Lax declared.

The criticism was also echoed by the “Green Prince," Mosab Hassan Yousef, who lives in the United States.

"Israel is not a client state. It is a sovereign, independent, and powerful nation. Its strength has never depended on any foreign leader, it comes from its own people. While the partnership with the United States has been valuable, Israel has never been a burden. It has delivered massive contributions to American technology, medicine, cybersecurity, and defense, far beyond what most Americans realize. At a moment when America is facing deep internal and external challenges, turning against one of its most capable and loyal allies is not just shortsighted, it is self-destructive. Those who believe they are weakening Israel by attacking it are actually weakening America’s own interests," Yousef said.

During a White House briefing yesterday (Thursday), Vance claimed that Israel was bombing Lebanon indiscriminately.

Based on what Vance has done, no, he's not fit to be the next presidential candidate. And we shouldn't buy his books either. So he obscures the Hezbollah's evils, and rails against Israel instead? Vance has really disappointed.

Update: on the subject of Iran, they've backed out of the deal signing in Switzerland, and Vance has delayed a trip there. So what's being accomplished so far when the deal may be questionable at most?

Update: the Federalist is making things worse by fudging the exact details, and makes it sound like it's wrong to destroy a terrorist organization, and as though Iran's literally right to defend said monsters:

Israel’s targeting of Hezbollah in Lebanon has been a point of tension during negotiations with Iran, sometimes breaking ceasefires and jeopardizing the openness of the Strait of Hormuz. Israel has also killed negotiators from Iran in the past in the middle of talks.

Israeli attacks in Lebanon have reportedly resulted in tense phone calls between Trump and Netanyahu, in which Trump has reportedly said his Israeli counterpart has “no f-cking judgement” during the negotiating process.

This is insulting to the intellect, and could also explain why the same news writers seem disinterested in freeing all Iranian citizens who don't want to wear outfits like the chador. This can also explain why there are certain commentators on the right, in and out of Israel, who find the way this has been handled troubling, and don't sound optimistic this'll go over well.

Even naturalized citizens have to be exiled if they commit offensive crimes

The USA Senate is looking for ways to deport naturalized citizens who commit severe offenses:

There are few remedies for removing foreign nationals who committed violent crimes, joined terrorist groups, or engaged in large-scale fraud after they became American citizens, lawmakers noted at a Senate hearing Wednesday.

Ken Cuccinelli, a former acting director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, pointed to two key cases that he said show the current law isn’t working, in his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution.

In March of this year, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a naturalized citizen from Sierra Leone, opened fire in a classroom at Old Dominion University, where he killed Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, an ROTC leader. In 2017, Jalloh pleaded guilty to providing material support to the Islamic State. He was reportedly sentenced to 11 years in prison but released early after completing a drug treatment program.

“Despite his terrorism conviction, Jalloh was never denaturalized and deported. Under current law, terrorism is prima facie evidence of fraudulent procurement only within five years of naturalization,” Cuccinelli said. “Because Jalloh’s conduct fell outside that window, the government had no clear path to remove him. A brave American soldier died because of that gap.”

Cuccinelli brought up another example: Mirsad Ramic, a Bosnian national who became a naturalized citizen and lived in Kentucky before he was convicted last year of providing material support to the Islamic State terrorist group.

“We must act on multiple fronts, strengthen the front end, so adjudicators conduct meaningful inquiries, and every applicant is thoroughly tested for hostility to American principles,” Cuccinelli said.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., the subcommittee chairman, sponsored the SCAM Act, short for “Stop Citizenship Abuse and Misrepresentation.” In other cases, he noted, naturalized citizens joined the Islamic State terrorist group or al-Qaeda or joined a drug trafficking cartel.

“If a man takes the oath of allegiance and then joins ISIS, the fraud likely began long before the battlefield,” Schmitt said Wednesday. “If the man swears attachment to the Constitution, then spies for a foreign country, the betrayal likely began before the indictment. If a man claims good, moral character and then steals millions from the American people, the lie may have been present at naturalization.”

He said his bill would make it easier to denaturalize and remove immigrants who naturalized in the country and then committed a felony.

“We need a serious nationwide denaturalization effort against fraudsters, felons, terrorists, spies, and anyone who obtained American citizenship by deceit,” Schmitt said. “If the government never revokes citizenship obtained by fraud, the oath becomes theater. The application becomes a game.”

In simpler terms, one could say what's called for here is a clear law making it easier to exile foreign nationals who commit severe offenses, and it's something tons of countries that want to remain civilized are in dire need of. We have to hope the GOP will make a serious effort to pass such bills through if they want to make the USA safer again for starters. Then, Europe will definitely need it next.

It's okay to defend a sane country from being corrupted

J.D. Vance sent an important message of support to the citizenry of Britain that applies also to countries like France, Italy, Spain, Denmark and even Israel:

U.S. Vice President JD Vance encouraged the British public protesting against the longstanding government policy of flooding the jobs market with mass migration to “just keep going” and remember “it’s OK” to want to live in a safe, culturally homogenous place.

The U.S. Vice President stood in for press secretary Karoline Leavitt at the White House press briefing room on Tuesday to cover her maternity leave, as reported by Breitbart News, and amid responses for a wide range of questions spoke out about the weekend’s Unite The Kingdom Rally.

The rally, convened by veteran street organiser and child rape gang critic Tommy Robinson, was called on Saturday 16th in defence of freedom of speech, civil liberties, and “our shared British identity, our history, our heritage, and the culture that connects England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland”.

Responding to a question that specifically highlighted protester’s concerns about “mass illegal migration and replacement of British culture”, Vance encouraged Britons who reject the modern paradigm of business-dominated government constantly pushing wages lower through human quantitative easing to keep fighting.

Read more. If there's something where Vance is doing the right thing, it's through messages like these, which should resonate in Israel and Europe alike too, and also Africa and Asia.

John Daniel Davidson is wrong to use Spain's 15th century expulsion of Jews as an analogy

Well, it looks like Federalist editor Davidson's crossed the line big time, and demonstrated why his news site has to be taken with a serious grain of salt. Case in point: he's taking issue with SCOTUS justice Neil Gorsuch in relation to topics like immigration, and along the way, he employs a horrific analogy with Jews as a subject:

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has done a series of interviews this week to promote his new children’s book about the Declaration of Independence and very clearly has a set of talking points, including a familiar liberal trope that’s no less false and incoherent for being familiar. America, says Gorsuch, is a “creedal nation,” essentially a set of ideas that anyone can subscribe to and become an American. What’s more, Gorsuch claims America was founded as a creedal nation — a creed that enshrines the three ideals of equality, inalienable rights, and the right of self-government.

“What unites us is not a religion, it’s not a race, it’s a belief in those three ideals,” Gorsuch told NRO in a recent podcast. To Nick Gillespie of Reason he said, “Our nation is not founded on a religion. It’s not based on a common culture even, or heritage. It’s based on those ideas. We’re a creedal nation.”

For conservative-minded Americans of a certain age, repeating this mantra that we’re a creedal nation, not a blood-and-soil nation like bad old Europe, has become something of a reflex — a defensive posture meant to deflect charges of racism and xenophobia from the left.

But it’s obviously false. One way you can tell it’s false is that no one who espouses this America-as-creed idea would ever follow through on its implications. If we were really a creedal nation, and in order to be fully American you had to believe and live by a certain civic creed derived from the Declaration and the Constitution, enshrining those three ideals Gorsuch mentions, then millions of our fellow citizens today would not be considered true Americans — to say nothing of the millions of recent immigrants who have never even heard of the ideals supposedly at the heart of our creed.

If we’re a creedal nation, such people cannot be our countrymen. If we were serious about our creed, we would denaturalize and deport them. We would expel heretics and unbelievers as readily as King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled all unconverted Jews from their kingdoms in 1492. That’s what creedal nations do.

Wow. If he'd made a case why Moslems need to integrate and assimilate or leave, that would've been impressive. Instead, Dumberson - as perhaps his nickname should be - chose to fall back on classic antisemitic allegories, and fail to make any distinctions between good and bad religions, if anything. If he doesn't think the USA should be founded solely on Judaism, that's one thing. But to say it was literally justified for Spain's monarchy to expel the community that founded the religion in remote times goes way too far, and I couldn't find anything about Islam in the "op-ed" Dumberson wrote. Suggesting that perhaps he really is that kind of a coward that he can't bring himself to research and point out anything disturbing about the koran's contents, and then, he even has the gall to say:

It’s telling that those most likely to invoke this notion of a creedal nation are the least likely to support something like mass deportation and denaturalization. They will declare that we’re a creedal nation but recoil if you suggest we should act like one. That’s because they either don’t understand what they’re arguing or don’t really believe it, and instead believe America isn’t a nation at all but an economic opportunity zone where anyone from anywhere can, with enough determination and skill, strike it rich.

Alas, based on what he previously told, that's why Dumberson's argument here falls flat, because he doesn't seem to either, and let's not forget his unwillingness to support a ground raid in Iran. And if he won't take an objective view of Islam, then it's hard to buy he's a devout Christian any more than the very pope he chose to whitewash. Does Dumberson also believe Jews/Israelis only came to the USA to "strike it rich"? That sounds eerily reminiscent of socialist cliches.

Amazingly, unlike Dumberson, another Federalist writer, Chris Bray, did show the courage to bring up the issue of Islamofascism while discussing Britain's election where Nigel Farage made significant gains. But it doesn't excuse the harm Dumberson's causing with his loathsome lectures, and if their staff is smart, they'll do what they can to give him the pink slip. He's as awful as Tucker Carlson, and clearly comes from almost the same school of thought.

2 apologists for the Religion of Peace will be attending a 911 memorial service

Two most disgraceful politicians, Zohran Mamdani and the UK's King Charles, will be attending a 911 memorial service where neither one belongs:

King Charles III is expected to attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in Manhattan next week, where New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is also anticipated to be among the officials present, according to Politico.

The event is scheduled for Wednesday, April 29 in downtown Manhattan during the king’s visit to the United States, Politico reported, citing two sources familiar with the plans. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, and other New York government officials are also expected to attend.

“The mayor will not meet privately with King Charles,” said Joe Calvello, a spokesperson for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “He was invited to join a number of New York elected officials next week at a wreath laying at the 9/11 memorial with members of the British royal family.” [...]

Mamdani’s expected presence at the ceremony follows prior criticism of his remarks and associations connected to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In October 2025, Mamdani posted photos of himself with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, whom the New York Post identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Mamdani described Wahhaj as “one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders and a pillar of the Bed-Stuy community.” Wahhajhas denied being a terrorist. The photo prompted backlash from Republican lawmakers and public figures, including Vice President JD Vance and Sen. Ted Cruz, among others.

Michael Barasch, a leading 9/11 attorney whose firm represents more than 45,000 clients, told Breitbart News in October that survivors, first responders, and victims’ families were “disgusted and outraged” by Mamdani’s decision to campaign with Wahhaj. Barasch said the episode was “an insult to every 9/11 survivor and family member” and warned, “We can’t let Mamdani into City Hall.”

Tragically, much of the electorate in NYC did, and even reelected district attorney Alvin Bragg by a comfortable margin. Atrocities like that are why I don't feel like ever visiting the Big Apple ever again.

That same month, Breitbart News columnist John Nolte wrote that Zohran Mamdani “lied” after declaring in a public statement, “I want to speak to the memory of my aunt, who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her hijab,” while arguing that “Islamophobia has emerged as one of the few areas of agreement.”

Nolte explained that Mamdani has only one aunt, Masuma Mamdani, who “does not wear a hijab and who did not live in New York or even America during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,” and noted reporting that she “lived in Tanzania” at the time.

This is one more reason why Mamdani's coming attendance at a 911 memorial service is a disgrace. A vital question remaining is, do the 911 Families approve of this? If not, they should publicly object, and if any are attending this service as well, they should make clear what they think of Mamdani, along with anybody who had the gall to elect him as NYC's first Muslim mayor.

King Charles' attendance is also galling, based on his dhimmitude back home. This year, it looks like he didn't even give an Easter sermon at all, instead delivering a message for Ramadan. That's why his planned presence at the memorial is uncalled for. Even Bloomberg doesn't belong, because he did little to nothing to stop NYC from getting to where it is now. No self-respecting 911 survivor/family member attending the memorial should shake the hands of any of these figures who've done more harm than good after 911.

The new right-wing anti-Trump crowd kowtows to Islam

Andrea Widburg discussed how bad right-wingers like Tucker Carlson, and also Pope Leo, have sold out to Islam along their path to undermining Donald Trump's policies:

Today’s news brought stories of two thought leaders—the Pope and Tucker Carlson—showing reverence for Islam. This differs from the left’s long-standing political allegiance with Islamic causes, something reflecting that the left and Islam share a common goal, which is the West’s destruction. Instead, this is a reverence for the Islamic faith. That’s new and, I must say, as someone who likes the Judeo-Christian worldview, disturbing.

The way I see it, the Koran is a pastiche of random lessons from the Bible, with which Mohammed was clearly familiar, plus a lot of rules that worked well for Mohammed’s personal advancement. Thus, Mohammed echoed such principles as a unitary god and the rejection of idolatry, charity to the poor, honesty in trade, respect for parents, mercy and forgiveness, and keeping one’s word.

The problem is that he added other rules that were carve-outs for Muslims. Thus, Mohammed himself is idolized to the point at which he is indistinguishable from God, sharia laws are utterly merciless, and Muslims have no obligation to extend to non-Muslims mercy, honesty in trade, or keeping one’s word.

In addition, Islam has icky things layered over it. For example, because the 50-year-old Mohammed married a six-year-old and consummated the marriage when he was 53 and she was nine, that’s a right given to all Muslim men. And because Mohammed veiled his wives because he was a prophet, Muslim women must wear tents.

Lastly, of course, there’s the whole war thing. Mohammed mandated conquest and war against infidels. Some people counter this by pointing to the violence in the Bible but the Bible is both a religious book and a history book. It recounts battles. But there is no “perfect man” telling Christians and Jews that they must convert the world through fire and sword, nor that women are the sexual spoils of such wars.

What’s disturbing is that two Western men who proclaim both their faith and hostility to Trump and the MAGA movement have lately become very supportive of Islam.

You could probably add a few more rotten apples to the list, those being the aforementioned RINO writers at the Federalist, who've also signaled support for Carlson and Leo. What the main 2 figures in focus are doing is merely an attempt to stealth indoctrinate the western populace under the guise of "conservatism", and we must hope most of the population understands what sellouts both these disgraces really are. They both keep silent on Christians persecuated by Islam, and it's chilling to wonder if both could be secret converts to Islam, much like some British in past decades wondered if King Charles was secretly a convert. Why, what if French communist Jean-Luc Melenchon is? For now, it's disgusting how Leo's following up Carlson as a religious figure who's a dhimmi sellout.

Pope Leo's tour of dhimmitude continues

The current Catholic pope, whom Donald Trump recently took issue with over his disturbing kowtowing to bad causes, is now disembarking on a journey to Algeria, where he'll be the first pope to visit the Muslim dominated country:

Leo XIV will become the first pope to visit Algeria on Monday, taking a message of dialogue with Islam on a trip that also represents a personal pilgrimage for the American pontiff.

Algeria is the first stop on an 11-day tour of four African nations, covering 18,000 kilometres and also taking in Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea from April 13 to 23.

No other pontiff has visited Algeria, a North African country where Islam is the state religion, and the 70-year-old’s arrival is being eagerly awaited by the Catholic minority.

The visit also holds a strong personal dimension for Pope Leo, as modern-day Algeria was home to Saint Augustine (354-430), a great Christian theologian whose spiritual legacy permeates his pontificate.

As the world watches anxiously with war raging in the Middle East, peaceful coexistence will be at the heart of the pope’s message in a country where 99 percent of its 47 million inhabitants are Muslim.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope’s aim was to “address the Islamic world, but also to confront a common challenge of coexistence”.

Algeria’s constitution guarantees freedom of worship, although the authorities must approve both the place of worship and the preacher.

Yet human rights groups say the repression of religious minorities has continued in Algeria in recent years.

Don't count on Leo bringing up the persecution of Christians in the region, or even in Syria, for that matter. Islam doesn't recognize co-existence. It only recognizes erasure and replacement of all other cultures, though what's really horrific is the violent content of the koran.

Predictably, Leo responded to Trump's criticisms about how you could possibly expect:

Pope Leo XIV responded Monday to President Donald Trump criticising him over the U.S.-Israel war in Iran, telling reporters the Vatican works for peace and reconciliation based on the teachings of the Gospel, adding he fears neither the Trump administration or vigorous debate.

“To put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here, I think is not understanding what the message of the Gospel is,” Leo told the Associated Press aboard the papal plane en route to Algeria where he is beginning an historic four-country Africa trip.

“And I’m sorry to hear that but I will continue on what I believe is the mission of the church in the world today.”

And that's "turning the other cheek" when it comes to a savage-run country building nuclear weapons, huh? Leo's doing nothing to turn the tide on the Religion of Peace, and John Daniel Davidson at the Federalist news site so far hasn't commented on where the pope's going, which only suggests said site's not really interested in getting rid of Islam as a "teaching tool".

The raid on Iran was necessary to prevent a nuclear version of 9-11

Bob Kiffney, a former intel specialist, makes an important case for why the USA/Israel needed to attack Iran and stop its nuclear building:

On Sept. 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 Americans were murdered in the deadliest terrorist attack in our nation’s history. The World Trade Center towers collapsed in Lower Manhattan, the Pentagon was breached, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, became a graveyard for heroes who prevented even greater loss. The economic toll exceeded $100 billion. The psychological wound reshaped American life for a generation.

Now imagine those same three targets struck not by hijacked airliners but by nuclear devices.

Many hundreds of thousands—potentially upward of 800,000 in Manhattan alone—would die instantly in fireballs and blast waves. Hundreds of thousands more would suffer horrific burns and radiation poisoning. Firestorms would rage across dense urban cores. The financial heart of the free world would be paralyzed, the seat of American government devastated, and fallout would render swaths of our most populous regions uninhabitable for years. Trillions in economic damage, mass evacuations, overwhelmed hospitals, and a body count dwarfing 9/11 by orders of magnitude would follow.

That is not science fiction. That was the imminent risk a nuclear-armed Iran posed until the United States and Israel launched decisive military action on Feb. 28.

The ongoing war against the Islamic Republic is not the beginning of a conflict. It is the necessary end to one that has raged for 47 years.

He's absolutely correct. Have any of the RINOs opposing war against Iran's autocracy ever considered that? Let's be clear. If ground invasions are needed to put an end to any further horrors in the making, that's what must be done, and it's to be hoped the USA public understands that at this point, and will back the Trump administration on any decision they make in that context.

All these horrors could've been prevented long ago if anybody who actually cared had shown the courage to do so. Yet all these years, in one of the worst examples of history showing we don't learn lessons from the past, the cancer was allowed to metastisize, and regardless of the current situation and outcome, a horrific mess was left that will take ages to clean up. It's very fortunate the USA and Israeli militaries took up what missions they have so far, because sooner or later, wars to stop evil entities are entirely inevitable.

Update: Clifford May has an important related op-ed here.

Where comics writer Kurt Busiek now posts his sad political rants

Years ago, when X was Twitter, leftist writer Kurt Busiek had plenty of terrible leftist drivel to say there. Today, after Elon Musk bought out the social network, it looks like Busiek no longer posts there, presumably because he can't stand being on a rightist-owned site, and now he's turned to Blue Sky. And here's a few examples of his continuing leftist rhetoric there. For example:

Wow, look how he's trying to draw a moral equivalence between antisemitic and "anti-palestinian" sentiment, making it sound like Iran's mullahs are literally against local Moslems, or as though the fabricated race/community "palestine" isn't Islamic. Put another way, Busiek's clearly not interested in doing any research to determine that the whole name "palestine" was a Roman conception, drawing from the Philistines, to humiliate the land of Stan Lee's ancestry. Also interesting how Busiek simultaneously attacks the POTUS who's now overseeing a raid against Iran's tyrants to destroy their murderous weaponry. Whose side is Busiek on anyway? He's right that Iran's got anti-LGBTQ positions, but, if he won't acknowledge it stems from the teachings of the koran, then his approach there falls flat too.

Then we have:

The USA military many sigificant achievements so far, like destroying Iran's naval crafts, and Busiek's ungrateful? Just what and who does Busiek stand for anyway?

Busiek even posted the following involving Israel:

How intriguing he lectures us all that Israelis across the board literally don't support Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister, this despite how recent pollings show he has sizable support, and plenty of support for the war against Iran's tyrants. What's telling here is how Busiek doesn't back up his claim, and while he may acknowledge the Islamofascists of Iran are willing to attack civilians, his absurd biases ruin any notion he respects the Israeli public on anything. Also atrocious is how Busiek subtly compares Netanyahu to the Iranian Islamofascists. Shame.

Next we have this:

And is that supposed to mean the military commanders don't face any danger, say, from enemy moles and sleeper agents? Oh good grief, this is just so naive. Then there's this and this:

Busiek won't learn lessons either, that wasting so much energy attacking conservatives doesn't improve the situation. And if he's implying Americans and Israelis who allegedly want war should die, that's disturbing as well, and sick. Besides, it's not that any sensible person literally wants war for "fun". They support war against tyrants because there's situations where force is inevitable if that's what it takes to stop barbarism. Busiek also made unverified claims that Israelis literally are guilty of war crimes, and also this item, and this one:

Well if that's what he thinks, but doesn't think the Islamofascists running Afghanistan today aren't guilty of war crimes against the ancient Buddhist inhabitants who originally dwelled there, that's disgraceful too. Ditto if he doesn't think Turkey's guilty of war crimes against Armenia. And Busiek also reposted the following from Tom Peyer:

I guess that means Mr. Peyer's also hostile to Israelis, conservative or otherwise? For shame. Later on, Busiek made a nasty comment about Trump:

And then, what did Busiek say about the US army attack on Kharg island?

If he's no military expert, he has no business commenting, and also had no business writing superhero comics. But who knows, maybe today, he regrets writing superhero tales. It is rather funny he'd write anything starring say, Captain America, considering Kirby/Simon created Steve Rogers as a military cadet who volunteered for the super-soldier serum experiment that made him the formidable fighter he became. But then, that's why, if Busiek really feels that way today, he should no longer be writing superhero themes, plain and simple.

Interestingly, if it matters, Busiek also mentioned the disgraced Gerard Jones, and said the following:

What's that supposed to mean long before? Does that mean people not wanting to benefit monsters is something that only recently came up? Let's be clear. If Jones had been caught in the acts years before and it made headlines in the news, you can be sure there's plenty who'd want nothing to do with him anymore. And must it be pointed out Staton didn't just illustrate comics written by sick Jones? Staton got into comics as far back as the early 1970s, and he'd drawn Green Lantern before, beginning in 1979, for stories written by writers with far better reputations than Jones will ever have at this stage. Staton also has other comics to his credits (including some Batman books), and even a few at Marvel. What, does Busiek have a grudge against Staton or something? That aside, if there's anything Busiek wrote that perhaps we shouldn't benefit, it's his creator-owned comics like Astro City and Arrowsmith, based on how he's indirectly insulting plenty of decent USA military officials who're working hard to bring down the Islamic regime in Iran. Don't their reputations matter? Don't even the reputations of 911 Families matter? Why, what about Betty Mahmoody, who was fortunate to get her daughter out of Iran during the mid 1980s after her creep of a husband taqqiya'd them into traveling there? How don't topics like those ever matter to Busiek?

And since Jones came up, this is very embarrassing, but it appears that since his release from prison nearly 4 years ago, he's been quietly turning up on social media again, and even posting chapters of a book he wrote called "Ginny Good" on a Substack site. Most disgraced writers of his sort would ususally just disappear after all the harm they caused. But Jones appears to be one of those sorts who cannot keep his stupid mouth shut. And if there's at least one example of what political rants he's posting to put on display here, it's the following:

Well. Looks like Jones hasn't changed from the time he first said a decade back he considered Trump a "fascist". And I guess he also considers Trump a communist, seeing how he claims the POTUS wants to be like Vladimir Putin. And all this after Jones was arrested and convicted for illegally hoarding child porn. What, does he think because he's been paroled from prison after 2 thirds of his sentence, it's okay to go right back to such crap again? As though it weren't bad enough he was trying to downplay his criminal offenses when he was still behind bars. All that aside, does he really think anybody wants to read even his text-only books after what he did? Such a repellent disgrace indeed. I wonder how Busiek feels about having written a backup story for Wonder Man in one of the 2 annuals for the 1991-94 series Jones wrote over 3 decades ago? That series was practically worthless as it is.

It's very sad some of the same leftist comics writers of the past decade refuse to stop wasting time on divisive politics, yet quite interesting how, ever since X/Twitter was bought out by a conservative supporter, they decided to jump ship from that service over to one that's more attuned to their leftist beliefs. That, alas, doesn't make the situation any better for the well being of the world.