The Morning Report — 9/18/24

Good Morning Kids. Wow, has it really been eight years since the Morning Report debuted? A lot has happened to me professionally and personally and what a ride it has been for all of us. First and foremost, my thanks and appreciation to Ace for giving me the opportunity to host this forum, to my fellow co-bloggers for their help and support and most crucially to all of you fantastic commenters whose combination of snark, erudition and knowledge make the Morning Report, IMHO, the best daily forum and news aggregation site out there.

I cannot begin to thank all of you for your support and for being here and making this place what it is.

So, let's start off with a literal bang! While given the fact that we can control the weather, is it really any surprise that Israel could pull off one of the most daring, retaliatory strikes in history. If only it could have prevented the events of 10/7 in the first place, but the IDF and the Israeli people are going to have to sort that out for themselves as to who and what is to blame for that equally massive failure. In any case, given who and what is running this country – Kamalorama Hussein Obama-Harris, is this item really surprising:

Israel did not take responsibility for the pager attack that crippled Hezbollah’s comms and took out a chunk of their officer corps. It certainly did not go ahead and describe how it was done for the media. That’s tradecraft. And you don’t reveal it.

But the New York Times had a report detailing how it happened that same evening. I won’t link to it as it carries the byline of fake news fabulist Sheera Frenkel who had previously carried water for Hamas and lied that the Islamic terror group had not kidnapped and killed three Israeli teens.

The report is described as being based on briefings received by American officials.

The material leaked to the Times comes from “American and other officials briefed on the operation” and the “American and other officials spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the operation.”

. . .Under Obama, leaks of Israeli operations were standard procedure. But if this was Biden-Harris admin policy, it doesn’t just hurt Israel, it hurts America. The leak undermines claims that we didn’t know about it beforehand. And encourages Hezbollah to target our people as the weaker link in the Oct 7 war. Some officials in this junta clearly don’t care, but they could also find themselves in the line of fire.

Which, considering the players involved, puts this story about assassination attempt #2 – with no doubt more possibly in the wings – in a new light:

Ryan Wesley Routh, the 58-year-old man who is suspected of an assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, had connections in Iran that are leading some security experts to question if there was Iranian involvement. A New York Times reporter who had interviewed Routh last year wrote on Sunday that Routh was working to recruit former Afghan special operations soldiers who had fled to Iran to go fight in Ukraine. . . The reporter, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, wrote that when he was writing an article on volunteer fighters in Ukraine last year, his former Afghan colleague and friend Najim Rahim had put him in touch with Routh, who he had learned about from a source of his in Iran, a former Afghan special operations soldier. A number of U.S.-trained Afghan special operations forces had fled to Iran after the disastrous Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. Since those forces were trained by U.S. special operations forces, the Afghan commandos’ escape into Iran potentially delivered “closely guarded secrets on U.S. special operators” to Iran, according to Foreign Policy.

Whether the Iranian connection is merely incidental, there's also this connection worth noting:

A Pakistani national with ties to Iran pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges related to an Iranian plot to assassinate former President Donald Trump.

A federal judge in Brooklyn ordered Asif Merchant detained pending trial at the Monday hearing in which Merchant pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries and taking part in a murder-for-hire plot, according to ABC News.

Merchant pleaded not guilty the same day that another man suspected of targeting Trump for assassination appeared in a federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida. That man, who was arrested shortly after allegedly fleeing from a sniper spot at Trump International Golf Course, was arraigned on charges of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

So, if I even attempt to connect the dots of Routh and Merchant to Iran that would light up the switchboards in the non-existent wink-wink Nina Jankowicz Merrick Garland Ministry of Truth, nein? Forget the fact that the junta in power and the generationally-embedded anti-American ticks in Foggy Bottom have been trying to replace Israel with Iran as the top dog in the Middle East going back at least as far back as Obama, if not before. Considering what's happening in Springfield Ohio and Obama's culinary proclivities, maybe the word dog is inadvisable in this context.

Meh, who needs Iranian, or Pakistani cutouts when you have a slew of psycho trannies running around, armed to the teeth and hopped up on hatred for enemies the media brainwash them into believing are targeting them.

And speaking of Ministry of Truth:

Democrat Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in 2022 that there is “no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech.” “Yeah, years ago, it was the little things, telling people to vote the day after the election, and we kind of brushed them off. Now we know it’s intimidation at the ballot box,” responded Walz. “It’s undermining the idea that mail-in ballots aren’t legal. I think we need to push back on this. There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy. Tell the truth, where the voting places are, who can vote, who’s able to be there.”It remains unclear if Walz was speaking about censorship on social media or actual government regulations on individuals spreading misinformation.

The problem is who gets to determine what is and what is not the truth. Well, even a cursory look at human history and tragically even American history will inform you of exactly who gets to be the arbiter.

Well, eight years has been a good long run. And while my doctors are optimistic that I have a very good shot at beating the odds of my cancer returning in the next 10 years or perhaps longer, they told me that I likely could die of something totally unrelated. Probably in prison for writing this column after being denied medical treatment, or food and water.

So here's to another eight years. Meh, it was probably wading through the madness on a daily basis to write this that gave me a brain tumor in the first place!

God bless you all, and have a great day.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY




• "Straight out of the Iranian regime's playbook" The Iranian-backed assassination plot allegedly involving Merchant is unrelated to the Florida assassination attempt.
  Pakistani National Pleads Not Guilty In Alleged Plot To Kill Trump
  
• According to Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said the city has received “et least 33 separate bomb threats, each one of which has been responded to, and each one of whom has been found as a hoax.” The governor added that these fake threats appear to have originated overseas.
  All Those Bomb Threats Springfield Was Getting? Turns Out They Were All a Hoax
  
• Emerald Robinson: There's only thing President Trump must do this year: he needs to stay alive. (Hat tip to commenter "Voter Theater" who says "This woman has an uncanny ability. . . to see what is there(reality) rather than  an illusion that would make us happy."
  48 Days To Go: The Biden Regime Missed Again!

LATEST TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AFTERMATH
• A memo filed by the CBP indicates border agents were aware that Routh had traveled to Poland in 2022 and to Turkey in 2023 and was suspected of having continued on to Ukraine. During his interview with CBP, the future would-be assassin claimed his travels were part of an effort to recruit over 100 foreign fighters from Afghanistan and other nations to fight against the Russian invasion.
  Biden-Harris DHS Refused to Investigate Failed Trump Shooter After He Was Flagged by Border Agents Last Year.
  
• A New York Times reporter who had interviewed Routh last year wrote on Sunday that Routh was working to recruit former Afghan special operations soldiers who had fled to Iran to go fight in Ukraine.
  Questions Arise Over Would-Be Trump Assassin’s Shady Connections in Iran
  
• Trump blamed the rhetoric from the Democrats for the attempts on his life.
  Trump: Assassination Attempts Haven’t ‘Affected Me,’ Trying ‘Not to Think About it’
  
• “A true de-escalation would mean dialing back claims that Trump is an existential threat.”
  Was the Trump Shooting ‘Stochastic Terror’?
  
• The lack of preventive measures against Routh caused some political pundits to speculate that the federal government engaged in willful negligence while protecting the president.
  FBI, Interpol, CBP Were Warned About Trump Assassination Suspect Ryan Routh
  
• AFL announced Tuesday it was launching a “multi-front” investigation into any records the Biden-Harris junta may possess on Routh. The organization cited Routh’s reported history of anti-Trump views and ties to Ukraine, leading AFL to request information on whether the government was tracking Routh, according a press release.
  America First Legal Investigates Biden Junta's Potential Knowledge Of Second Trump Shooter
  
• “It’s not in the best interest of our state or our nation to have the same federal agencies seeking to prosecute Donald Trump leading this investigation.”
  DeSantis Signs Executive Order to Investigate Trump Assassination Attempt
  
• MICHAEL GOODWIN: To grant him even an iota of sympathy would be to give sympathy to the devil. Leave it to Hillary Clinton to be the first to reach the bottom of the barrel.
  Another assassination attempt shows the Dems’ hostile playbook – blame the victim if it’s Trump
  
• This is not us or them, this is you got to stop doing what you’re doing, J.D. [Vance] and what you’re doing, Mr. [Trump], because you are not helping the situation.”
  Whoopi FAT ALBERT SPEER Goldberg Looks Straight Into The Camera And Says Dangerous Rhetoric Isn’t a ‘Both Sides’ Issue Correct: It's Leftists only! - jjs
  
• If there’s ever any wonder who won the last presidential debates, just look at who keeps getting shot at after them.
  Trump Assassination Attempts Mark Next Stage Of America’s March Towards Banana Republic

  CIVIL WAR 2.0: J-6 FBI FALSE FLAG "RIOT" & AFTERMATH, LEFTIST PERSECUTIONS, DEMOCRAT PUTSCH, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION

• I can't recall anyone uttering anything this irresponsible from the White House podium. Ever. . . In a jujitsu of what she thinks passes for logic, Karine Jean-Pierre told the White House press corps that Trump was a threat to democracy. When Fox News White House reporter Peter Doocy challenged her, KJP told Doocy that his question was "dangerous." This is just hours after Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House urged Americans to tone down the political rhetoric after Trump's brush with a would-be assassin on Sunday. 
  Rubicon Crossed: White House Doubles Down on Trump Being a 'Threat' After Latest Brush With Death

• Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley fired back at members of Code Pink, which is reportedly affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and has targeted Hawley before, telling them they have “blood” on their hands.
  EXCLUSIVE: ‘You’ve Got Blood On Your Hands’: Josh Hawley Fires Back At Protesters Who Swarmed Him After Hearing
  
• The alleged cyberstalker made a concerning call to the Christian school days before the anniversary of the Covenant School shooting.
  Alleged Cyberstalker Who Made Threatening Call To Christian School Released From Federal Custody
  
• Woman identifying as a man told her therapist she wanted to shoot kids in the cafeteria, prosecutor tells The Daily Wire
  Trans-Identifying 19-Year-Old Arrested After Expressing Desire To Shoot Up Elementary School

  ISRAEL vs IRAN & GAZA/HAMAS/Hezbollah . . . AND BIDEN

• Images and videos on social media showed men with wounds to their abdomens and chests, presumably as a result of the exploding pagers, which detonated at roughly the same time on Tuesday.
  Lebanon: 2,800 Injured, 8 Killed, in Pager Attack on Hezbollah
  
• Always stab allies in the back.
  Daniel Greenfield: Biden-Harris Junta Immediately Leaks Details of Israeli Pager Op
  
• In an interview with the New York Times published on Tuesday, Meshal noted that Biden has stopped echoing Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's commitment to Hamas's eradication and has pushed indirect negotiations with Hamas for a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza war.
  Hamas Leader Says Biden Will Let Group Stay in Power: 'They're Practically Recognizing Hamas'
  
• But it left many wondering why it wasn’t followed by a larger offensive incursion into Lebanon, from which Hezbollah has for the past 11 months launched near-daily rocket and drone attacks that have driven tens of thousands of Israeli civilians from their homes in northern Israel. For months, Israelis have been bracing for a second-front war against Hezbollah,
  What Experts Make of Israel's 'Ingenious' Hezbollah Pager Attack
  
• Can a decent country be a part of this effort?
  The UN’s Desire to Get Rid of the State of Israel
  * * * * *

• Tensions have reportedly erupted in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, over a mural depicting a swastika intertwined with a Star of David.
  Mural On Private Property Stokes Heated Debate In Milwaukee As Officials Step In
  
• Senator Gary Peters, who has been vocal about combating Islamophobia, declines to put name on statement condemning attack
  Michigan Officials From Whitmer to Slotkin Silent In Wake of Assault on Jewish Student
  
• Daniel Greenfield: Students shouted: "We will finish what Hitler started", "Gas more Jews" and "The final solution".
  European Students Now Call American College Students “Hitler Youth”

  WE-ALL-SLAM-FOR-I-SLAM

• Why Europeans are turning rightward.
  Muslim Migrants and the Seething in Europe

  OFFICIAL DEMOCRAT PARTY/LEFTIST-ENDORSED ANTI-SEMITISM, ANTI-CHRISTIANITY

• Vice President Kamala Harris has won the endorsement of Scientific American magazine, which broke with its long tradition of avoiding political endorsements in 2020 when it first backed now-ousted President Joe Biden. Scientific American, as The National Pulse revealed in 2020, is owned by the controversial Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, or Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, based in Stuttgart, Germany.The multi-billion-euro conglomerate simply describes its early history as “track[ing] back to the book-club business,” adding: “In the 1930s, the company founder Georg von Holtzbrinck began with the sale of subscriptions to books and periodicals.”
  HEIL HARRIS! – Kamala Endorsed by Billion-Dollar Publishing Giant With ‘Dark’ 1930s Nazi Collaborator History.

  "BIDEN BORDER BLOODBATH," AMNESTY, IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY

• When liberals scramble to debunk a viral story, it's often a strong indicator there might be some truth behind it. And sure enough, the liberal media is losing its mind over the Ohio Haitians eating pets story because they can’t seem to shut it down. Just look at their reaction to all the memes circulating online. The truth is, there are verified eyewitness reports of Haitians consuming geese and ducks. Police reports and 911 calls really do back this up. And now, we may have evidence that immigrants are eating cats. 
  Vetted Video Shows Ohio Immigrants Grilling Neighborhood Cats
  
• Over a period of years, DeWine and his wife have developed extensive ties to a charity in Haiti. . .His support for Haitian migrants has drawn criticism from some conservatives online.
  Mike DeWine’s History Raises Concerns About Potential Conflict Of Interest With Haitian Migrants

• Members of the Tren de Aragua gang have entered the U.S. in huge numbers, often under the guise of asylum seekers crossing the southern border....
  Meet the murderous thugs crossing the border and terrorizing Americans
  
• The Mexican government has begun transporting migrants to the U.S. border. The “Emerging Safe Mobility Corridor” scheme, initiated by Mexico last month, is designed to help migrants gain parole into the U.S. under the Biden-Harris government.The Mexican National Institute of Migration shared a video on social media showing the first bus transporting migrants from Tapachula, near Guatemala, to Reynosa, close to the U.S. border. The migrants are scheduled to attend appointments made via the CBP One app.
  VIDEO: Mexico Buses Migrants to U.S. Border to Take Advantage of Biden-Harris Open Border Scheme.

  FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH

• Clinton’s call for Americans to be criminally charged for “parrot[ing] Russian talking points” would apply to anyone who voiced opinions baselessly deemed to be Russian propaganda. Clinton also accused Republican members of Congress of going “to the floor of Congress” and parroting “Russian talking points.”
  Hillary Clinton Calls for Americans to Be ‘Criminally Charged’ for Free Speech that Sounds Like ‘Russian Propaganda’
  
• First of all, it takes a special kind of moral blindness to excuse a would-be presidential assassin. Beyond that, Benen employs exactly the same arguments used by the right to push back against the left when they blame conservatives for school shootings or any other violence.
  MSNSDAP Columnist Says Routh Was Justified in Wanting to Take a Shot at Trump
  
• "What if it was your father?"
  ‘Reaction Is Unacceptable:’ Chris Cuomo Calls, Apologizes To Trump After Assassination Attempt
  
• (Kurtzleben means Short-life or short-lived in German! - jjs)
  NPR’s Kurtzleben: Trump Assassination Attempt Can Have ‘Terrifying Knock-On Effects’ Like People Getting Mad at Media
  
• The magazine showing, once again, why it is the Bud Light of science journals
  Mocking Ensues After Scientific American Endorses Kamala Harris
  
• It remains unclear if Walz was speaking about censorship on social media or actual government regulations on individuals spreading misinformation.
  Tim Walz in 2022: ‘No Guarantee to Free Speech on Misinformation or Hate Speech’

  THE ECONOMY, STUPID

• A federal judge’s ruling in favor of election betting on prediction markets protects these important financial hedging instruments.
  Place Your Bets

  CRIME & PUNISHMENT, NON-DOSTOYEVSKY

• Kamala Harris' recent boasts about her tough record as California Attorney General have brought back into the spotlight her arrest and prosecution of single black mother.
  Arrested by Kamala: A Black Mother's Story

• Why is the press so insistent on claiming that crime is no big deal? The reason is simple: Republicans have been tapping the public’s legitimate concerns about crime, blaming soft-on-crime leftists such as Kamala Harris, and promising to turn things around.
  The Media’s Criminal Misreporting on Crime

  EDUCATION, AND WHAT PASSES FOR IT

• Walz’s governorship has always been about putting teachers unions and radical political ideologies over parents’ rights and students’ well-being. 
  Tim Walz Thinks Your Kids Belong To The Public School System
  
• That teachers are underpaid and that teachers’ unions are beneficial for educators are enduring fables that need to be debunked.
  Teacher Pay: Myths, Reality and Union Shenanigans
  
• The data doesn’t lie.
  New report: Illegals are drastically altering the landscape of public schools

  THE 2020 AND 2022 ELECTION HEISTS & AFTERMATH— Plus Anticipated 2024 Shenanigans

• Before Shapiro switched to automatic voter registration, anyone getting a driver’s license was given the option to register to vote. But now all applying for driver’s licenses are automatically registered and must opt out if they don’t want to be — or cannot be — registered to vote.  
  EXCLUSIVE: Pennsylvania Motor Voter System Will Be Audited For Noncitizen Voters   
  
• In a reportedly unsigned order, the Keystone State’s highest court affirmed a lower court ruling denying West’s bid for ballot access. In that ruling, Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer sided with the office of Secretary of State Al Schmidt “in rejecting West’s candidacy paperwork,” according to the Washington Examiner.
  Pennsylvania’s Democrat-Controlled Supreme Court Kicks Cornel West Off 2024 Ballot
  
• Attorneys representing RFK Jr. have appealed Monday’s ruling in liberal Dane County that Kennedy must remain on Wisconsin’s November ballot.
  Dems’ Scheme To Keep RFK Jr. On Wisconsin Ballot Comes Down To The Wire
  
• Recently, two election scandals have roiled Oregon Democrats. But it isn't so much the overt thievery and lying that stunned the populace; it was the unabashed cover-up by the left's elected fellow travelers who tried to justify it. Power has its perks, and one-party rule is all. 
  Even Oregon Democrats Think Oregon Democrats Have Gone Too Far This Time

  POLITICS

• The Republican Party is keeping the fighters who have some idea how late the hour is, and gloriously losing the saboteur statists who stabbed the base in the back for decades and will now wander in the...
  Kamala's campaign is flushing the trash out of the Republican party
  
• Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.
  Kamala Harris, Smear Merchant
  
• Perhaps they’re not such strange bedfellows after all.
  Kamala Harris and the Company She Keeps
  
• Part of what defines candidates is who endorses them. Musk, Kennedy, Gabbard, Ramaswamy, and Haley bring extraordinary credibility to their endorsement of Trump.
  The Virtues of Trump’s Disruptive Partners

  THE UKRAINIAN "FRONT"

• The decay of the post–Cold War bilateral nuclear order has made escalation in the Ukraine war a risky prospect.
  The U.S. Is Playing Nuclear Chicken in Ukraine

  FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL

• The flooding has swamped parts of Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania as a low-pressure system crossing the region has unleashed record-high rains for days, and it was expected to affect Slovakia and Hungary later in the week. So far 16 people have been reported killed – seven people in Romania, five in Poland, three in the Czech Republic and one in Austria.
  Central Europe Flooding Kills 16 in Romania, Poland, Czechia, and Austria
  
• Quick conclusions are the exception, not the rule.
  Modern Wars Are Wars of Attrition

  DEFENSE, MILITARY, SECURITY AFFAIRS

  
  

• 'There still remains significant gaps in our national security screening regime for land purchases,' lawmakers say
  Federal Loopholes Allow China To Buy Land Near Sensitive Ports, Labs, and Coast Guard Facilities, Prompting Congressional Concern
  
• Attorneys present Opening Statements by both sides, and Plaintiff Students for Fair Admissions commences its case against the Naval Academy
  Naval Academy Affirmative Action Trial Day One in the Books

  ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY

• A landslide in a fjord led to a 650-foot tsunami.
  Mysterious Seismic Event That Shook the Earth for 9 days Caused by Greenland Tsunami
  
• These fines therefore are simply because FAA management has hurt feelings because SpaceX wouldn’t wait for it to twiddle its thumbs for a few more weeks. The fines also suggest that FAA management is either being pressured to hinder SpaceX’s commercial operations by higher ups in the White House, or that management itself is trying to exert more power over the company, for apparently very petty reasons.
  FAA fines SpaceX $633K for acting without its permission
  
• As an old-fashioned American who believes in freedom and limited government (as clearly established by our Constitution) I had recognized this legal fact immediately in January 2023, when the FCC first made its power grab. That our young modern journalists don’t understand this is both tragic and disgraceful.
  A space journalist suddenly notices that the FCC has no legal authority to regulate space junk

  FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY

• Lloyd Billingsley: America’s woke master race goes nuclear.
  Queer Ubermenschen

  CULTURE WARS, NATIONAL SUICIDE

• You do not need me to tell you that we are no longer engaged in a debate between conflicting worldviews or political ideologies. The behavior we are witnessing suggests a much darker pathology at work. One of the reasons I cringed during the chaos of J6 was that I saw ordinary people getting caught up in the tactics, mindset, and excuses of the Left. 
  Selling America, One Soul at a Time
  
• Adding race and sex politics to ‘Star Wars: Outlaws’ and ‘Assassin’s Creed: Shadows’ has not gone well for game maker Ubisoft.
  After Woke ‘Star Wars’ Release, Ubisoft Stock Hits 9-Year Low
  
• Say what you want about the band Creed. You can say they’re a pseudo-Christian ripoff of Pearl Jam. You can say they’re almost as reviled as the Canadian band Nickelback. And, you could bring up the past transgressions of lead singer Scott Stapp. But, every now and then, even a blind squirrel finds a nut.
  Creed Frontman Anti-Establishment Message During Show: 'We are a Constitutional Republic...NOT a Democracy'
  
• These movies capture something innate to the American experiment
  Six Myths That Define the American Psyche in Cinema

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posted by J.J. Sefton at 06:44 AM

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