This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
It was big news that President Joe Biden awarded George Soros the Presidential Medal of Freedom over the weekend, the highest decoration a U.S. civilian can receive, intended for individuals who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."
Past recipients have included great Americans from Helen Keller, Neil Armstrong and Martin Luther King Jr. to Antonin Scalia, Rush Limbaugh and Billy Graham.
So, what has George Soros done to deserve the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
Soros' name is typically preceded by the words "billionaire philanthropist," but that already poses a problem. Philanthropists donate money and property to needy individuals and institutions for the purpose of advancing human welfare, security and happiness. Indeed, with its anthro root, philanthropy literally means "love of mankind."
For decades, however, Hungarian-born left-wing "billionaire philanthropist" George Soros – to get right down to it – has supported, advocated and bankrolled everything subversive, destructive and evil.
During the Biden administration, Soros' name has most often been heard in conjunction with funding dozens of radically pro-criminal district attorneys across America, many of them household names due to the spectacular explosion in violent crime they have enabled: "Soros DA Larry Krasner" (Philadelphia), "Soros DA Kim Foxx" (Chicago), "Soros DA Chesa Boudin" (San Francisco) and scores of others, from George Gascon (Los Angeles) to Marilyn Mosby (Baltimore) to Kim Gardner (St. Louis), 75 in all – each elected because of massive infusions of Soros cash into their campaigns. In turn, the "Soros DAs" have transformed America's most beautiful, dynamic and storied cities into degraded, crime-infested hellscapes of skyrocketing murder, rape, robbery, rioting, arson, drug abuse, wild mass-shoplifting episodes and other mayhem, leading not only to widespread property loss, suffering and death, but also to major exoduses by those with the means to relocate.
Of course, the most notorious and high-profile examples of Soros-funded legal chaos involve the lawfare cases against President Donald Trump, including New York's Soros-funded Attorney General Letitia James (who openly campaigned on a promise to prosecute Trump) and Soros-funded Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose bizarre case against Trump has resulted in the judge demanding to sentence Trump just days before he is inaugurated as America's 47th president.
And yet, radical-progressive prosecutors constitute just one recent manifestation of Soros' "philanthropy."
He funds efforts to legalize dangerous drugs, he supports euthanasia and assisted suicide, and he funds Black Lives Matter. He is for socialism and globalism and open borders and "defunding the police." He's for devaluing America's currency – once telling the Financial Times that "an orderly decline of the dollar is actually desirable" – even though that amounts to an outright theft of Americans' life savings and investments. He favors the destruction of American sovereignty in favor of "global governance." He doesn't like Israel and has supported her enemies. He detests fair elections and truthful news coverage, and indeed funds organizations that daily attack the only free press America currently has (including Soros-funded attacks on WND and this writer).
In short, if it's immoral, subversive and anti-American, Soros favors, organizes and funds it. If it's noble and freedom-producing, like free markets, fair elections and constitutional government, he sets up and funds organizations to undermine and destroy it.
Why? What is really going on inside the mind and soul of George Soros?
'Messianic fantasies … the creator of everything'
Even though conservatives generally regard him as akin to the evil emperor in "Star Wars," the "Empire's" shadowy and malevolent behind-the-scenes power, George Soros simultaneously represents the lifeblood – indeed, life itself – to hundreds of organizations on the far left. They see him as a messianic figure, a revered leader, a godfather – almost a god, who provides good things for his children.
Indeed, Soros admits he wants to re-create the world in his image – like a god. That characterization is not opinion, hyperbole or rhetorical flourish: Living out "messianic fantasies" and openly likening himself to a "some kind of god" is precisely how George Soros – ironically, an atheist and self-hating Jew – describes himself in his more candid moments.
"I fancied myself as some kind of god," Soros once wrote. "If truth be known, I carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood, which I felt I had to control, otherwise they might get me in trouble."
When the British online newspaper The Independent asked Soros to explain these extraordinary statements, he responded: "It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out."
As Rachel Ehrenfeld and Shawn Macomber wrote in a revealing Los Angeles Times op-ed, "George Soros: The 'God' Who Carries Around Some Dangerous Demons":
Soros has proved that with the vast resources of money at his command he has the ability to make the once unthinkable acceptable. His work as a self-professed "amoral" financial speculator has left millions in poverty when their national currencies were devaluated, and he pumped so much cash into shaping former Soviet republics to his liking that he has bragged that the former Soviet empire is now the "Soros Empire."
Now he's turned his eye on the internal affairs of the United States. Today's U.S., he writes in his latest book, "The Bubble of American Supremacy," is a "threat to the world," run by a Republican Party that is the devil child of an unholy alliance between "market fundamentalists" and "religious fundamentalists." We have become a "supremacist" nation.
… Despite his reputation as an international philanthropist, Soros remains candid about his true charitable tendencies. "I am sort of a deus ex machina," Soros told the New York Times in 1994. "I am something unnatural. I'm very comfortable with my public persona because it is one I have created for myself. It represents what I like to be as distinct from what I really am. You know, in my personal capacity I'm not actually a selfless philanthropic person. I'm very much self-centered."
Soros was more succinct when he explained his life philosophy to biographer Michael Kaufman. "I am kind of a nut who wants to have an impact," he said.
Yet Soros' remarkable visions – many would say delusions – don't end there, as Ehrenfeld and Macomber explain:
"Next to my fantasies about being God, I also have very strong fantasies of being mad," Soros once confided on British television. "In fact, my grandfather was actually paranoid. I have a lot of madness in my family. So far I have escaped it."
Except he hasn't "escaped it." Not only has George Soros succumbed to a form of madness, but he's been imposing his insanity on the United States of America. And that is precisely why Joe Biden awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom: Soros has mightily helped Biden (and the neo-Marxist lunatics behind him) push a once-great nation ever further into social, economic, governmental, legal, moral and spiritual chaos.
After all, Soros' proclamation in his 1995 book, "Soros on Soros" – "I do not accept the rules imposed by others. … And in periods of regime change, the normal rules don't apply" – amounts to a moral code of total lawlessness and blind arrogance. And it is precisely this "the-normal-rules-don't-apply-to-me" philosophy that has been embraced not only by Soros, but by the entire America-destroying leftist ruling regime, on top of which the puppet Biden has been precariously perched for four years.
So, of course he must pay homage to his godfather and benefactor, George Soros – the super-wealthy atheist with "potent messianic fantasies" who admits he's a "self-centered" "nut" with "fantasies about being God."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – Hamas released another proof-of-life hostage video Saturday, which featured 19-year-old Liri Albag, who was kidnapped from the Nahal Oz military base abutting the Gaza border, along with six of her colleagues on Oct. 7, 2023. Fifteen of her surveillance colleagues were murdered in the initial onslaught.
The three-and-a-half-minute video was another in part of the drip-drip psychological war that Hamas is engaged in; showing some signs of life of Israeli hostages who have been kept in Gaza captivity for well in excess of 400 days. Like the others, this video was not dated, although Albag stated she has been held for over 450 days, indicating that it was filmed recently. We are currently 457 days into the war.
Albag was one of a number of unarmed surveillance soldiers, when thousands of Hamas terrorists swarmed over the border, overrunning the military base. One of the abducted surveillance soldiers was later rescued alive, and the body of a second one was recovered after she was murdered in captivity. The other five – Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Naama Levy and Daniella Gilboa – are still hostages. Gilboa appeared in a previous proof-of-life video in July, in which she begged the government – prompted by a Hamas-approved script – for a ceasefire.
Albag's family did not permit the media to use the footage Hamas released, although it did allow stills – and these are harrowing enough in themselves. Albag is dressed in some kind of brown jacket, with a single light above her and a dark background.
Her hair looks as though it hasn't been cut since her abduction, or a few months at best. She looks as though she has been almost entirely kept underground and has seen little-to-no natural sunlight. The stills show she broke down while speaking, putting her head in her hands.
"The video released today tore our hearts apart," her family said in a short statement on Saturday evening. "This is not the same daughter and sister that we know. She is in bad condition, and her difficult mental state is evident."
"We saw our heroic Liri survive and beg for her life. She is several dozen kilometers from us, and for 456 days we have been unable to bring her home," the family said.
They appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government to make decisions regarding the hostages "as if your children were there."
"Liri is alive and must come back alive! It depends only on you," the family said.
In a second, longer statement issued shortly after, the family said they had "watched the video that Hamas sent in horror, and we can't breathe."
"This is not the Liri we know, this is a shadow of Liri," they reiterated. "While it is a sign of life, this is not the video that we were looking for. The always-strong Liri looks broken and shattered."
Albag's parents, mother, Shira, and father, Eli, said if their daughter could her them they'd want her to know they "haven't given up on her," and that she's "coming home alive."
"Liri, if you're hearing us, tell the others that all the families are moving heaven and earth and want their children home, and we will fight until all hostages are returned – the living for rehabilitation and the murdered and fallen for proper burial in Israel, Eli Albag said. "Tell the others – stay strong. Just a little longer and soon there will be a deal."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A city ordinance that put a bull's-eye on a church food-distribution program has been repealed, opening the door for the Seventh-Day Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Florida, to continue its program to help people.
According to a report from the First Liberty Institute, the city's ordinance that banned such programs was suspended earlier.
But now there's been confirmation the provision has been repealed by the city, meaning the church can continue its food distribution ministry without the threat of immediate closure.
"The city previously agreed to allow the church to resume its food distribution ministry while it repealed its ordinance, and the city's latest action of repealing the ordinance makes that temporary agreement permanent," the legal team explained.
It was aided by the law firm Sidley Austin LLP in reaching the resolution.
"We are grateful to Daytona Beach city officials for working with us so that Seventh Baptist can resume its mission of providing food for the hungry, hurting people in the community," Ryan Gardner, a First Liberty Institute lawyer, said in a statement. "People who take action to care for the hungry should be encouraged and affirmed. The church is thrilled to be able to continue helping those in need."
The church has run a food pantry for the most vulnerable families in the community since about 2007.
"For most of that time, the city, and its citizens, not only allowed the church's food ministry to thrive, but they also supported it and encouraged it. Even after the church moved to its current location – within what the city calls a 'redevelopment area,' just like its prior location – the city allowed the church to operate the food pantry without issue," First Liberty Institute reported.
Then came an enforcement that forced the closure, and the filing of a now-dismissed lawsuit.
When the city brought its case against the church, a First Liberty official described it as "unconscionable."
"People who take action to care for the hungry should be encouraged and affirmed, not threatened and fined. The city is criminalizing compassion," Gardner said at the time.
The conflict apparently resulted from a complaint by a former city commissioner and her spouse that "these types of feeding programs are plagues to the efforts to redevelop a neighborhood" and that "crowds of people [are] sleeping on church steps and in alleys beside homes."
The church had been threatened with a fine of $5,000 per day for running its food pantry.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A top Republican in the U.S. Senate is warning the congressional push for tax cuts could be endangering U.S. border security, and therefore the lives of American citizens.
"I'm very worried," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, on "Sunday Morning Futures" with Maria Bartiromo on the Fox News Channel.
"I'm very worried that if we don't put border first and get it done, it's going to be to a nightmare for our national security. We've got millions of illegal immigrants that President Trump has promised to deport, and he should. Why are we doing mass deportation? Because we had mass illegal immigration," he continued.
"Laken Riley's murderer was released because there was no bed space to hold him, and he was paroled, and he raped and killed the girl. Right now, we have 41,000 beds. Under the Trump plan, we're going to go to 150,000 beds.
"We're going to double the number of ICE agents to find people and kick 'em out. We're gonna finish the wall, and put technology on the border to shut it down. That costs $100 billion. I'm willing to offset the $100 billion with cuts in other places, but there's no way in hell Democrats are going to give us $100 billion for mass deportation.
"Every day we delay is a dangerous day for America. 3,000 Americans died from fentanyl poisoning every two weeks. I've never seen so many threats to our nation as I do now.
"It started with Afghanistan. ISIS is on the move. They're coming here. Last year we found eight people from Tajikistan that were affiliated with ISIS. I wrote a letter to [Sen. Chuck] Schumer saying let's have a hearing about ISIS-K in Afghanistan. He blew me off for an entire year. Now he wants a hearing about New Orleans.
"The threats to our nation are large. I want the tax cuts. $4.7 trillion, they will ruin the economy if they expire at the the end of the year. I will try to be a team player here, but I want to tell the American people from my point of view, the number one job is to secure the nation for the federal government.
"Our border is broken. I wanted it fixed by February the 17th. To the tax-cut wing of the party, I am with you, but if you hold border security hostage to get tax cuts, you're playing Russian roulette with our national security."
"So count me in for cutting taxes, but my purpose on this show today so the warn Americans that that this broken border is a national security nightmare. Donald Trump has a plan to fix it. It costs $100 billion. If we can get him the money, that's all he needs to fix it for four years. No Democrat is going to help us, folks. If you think they're going to help us, you shouldn't be allowed to drive."
Graham also is pushing to approve President-elect Trump's Cabinet picks "sooner rather than later."
"When President Trump left office, we had the most secure border in American history. The caliphate was destroyed, ISIS was destroyed and Iran was in a box, we killed Soleimani, the Iranian revolutionary guard leader. The last four years have been a freakin' disaster. They rolled back every policy that worked on the border. They went back into the Iran nuclear agreement giving the ayatollah hundreds of millions of dollars that's used for terrorism.
"The confirmations, do 'em now, do 'em quick. Get 'em all done in January, February. We need our team on the field. We need an FBI director, we need an attorney general, we need 'em all. Get hit done. We gotta get it done. We're under attack here. We're at war. … We're under siege here!"
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
According to the Iranian opposition group the National Council of Resistance of Iran, or NCRI, the number of recorded executions in 2024 has reached 1,000 prisoners, including 34 women and 7 minors. While this figure is unprecedented in the past 30 years, the actual number is likely much higher due to secret executions.
Executions in Iran during 2024 increased by 16% compared to the 864 executions recorded in 2023. According to Amnesty International, 74% of all recorded executions worldwide in 2023 took place in Iran.
Execution as a tool of official repression
\The NCRI statement indicates that the rise in executions in 2024 is directly linked to the regime's crises and failures. Eleven percent of the executions occurred in the first quarter and 17% in the second quarter of the year, periods during which the regime was preparing for two elections: parliamentary elections in February and presidential elections in June.
Twenty-five percent of the executions were carried out in the third quarter.
However, in the fourth quarter, amidst the regime's crushing failures in the region and the emergence of severe economic and social crises, the pace of executions accelerated to unprecedented levels. Nearly 47% of the prisoners executed in 2024 were hanged during this period.
Commenting on this, Maryam Rajavi, leader of the Iranian opposition and president-elect of the NCRI, called for all negotiations and deals with the regime to be conditioned on halting executions and torture. She stated: "The wave of barbaric executions in 2024, particularly in the past autumn, is (the regime's supreme leader Ali) Khamenei's desperate attempt to prevent the uprisings of an angry population that will settle for nothing less than the complete overthrow of this regime."
695 executions under Pezeshkian's presidency
Some 695 executions, almost 70% of the annual total, have taken place since July 30, when Massoud Pezeshkian assumed the presidency.
Increase in executions of women
Among those executed, 34 were women, and seven were minors who had been convicted of crimes allegedly committed before the age of 18. The average age of the 491 identified victims was 36 years.
Among the executed were 119 Baluch prisoners, members of an impoverished and oppressed ethnic minority. This group was disproportionately targeted compared to the population of other provinces and regions in the country.
Additionally, four public executions were carried out in especially brutal ways to instill fear within the society.
The pretext of drug-related crimes
More than half of the victims (502 prisoners) were executed on drug-related charges. However, following the fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, it was revealed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, controlled massive drug-trafficking networks in Syria generating tens of billions of dollars in revenue across the region and the world. Only a fraction of these activities has been exposed.
Amputations and social injustice
Another shocking act of cruelty consists of chopping off fingers of thieves. Fingers of two brothers imprisoned in Oroumieh and those of two other prisoners in Qom were thus amputated. Meanwhile, billion-dollar embezzlements by regime leaders and their affiliated networks have become routine, with no arrests or punishments for those responsible.
The only so-called "progress" in human rights reported in the past year was the judiciary's announcement, according to the official website "Asr-e Iran," that anesthesia is now permitted before amputating the limbs of convicted thieves.
Tuesday's campaign: No to the death penalty
For 49 weeks, a campaign titled "No to the Death Penalty" has been held every Tuesday – the day when most executions take place.
This campaign has garnered significant support among detainees: Prisoners from 28 prisons are participating by going on hunger strikes.
Internationally, more than 250 British parliamentarians from both houses of Parliament, representing all major political parties, have expressed their support for the campaign. They have strongly condemned the unprecedented rise in executions in Iran and called for their immediate cessation.
Utmost barbarity: Stoning to death
In its latest statement, the "No to the Death Penalty" movement denounced another atrocity: Several female prisoners in Qarchak Prison were sentenced to stoning to death on charges of extramarital relationships. Even in the best-case scenario, these sentences might be commuted to execution by hanging.
The statement concluded: "We firmly believe that silence in the face of such atrocities amounts to complicity. It is essential to stand against such barbarism and brutality."
The year 2024 marked a grim turning point in the Iranian regime's repression. Far from being a measure of justice, executions are being weaponized as a political tool to sustain a regime in existential crisis. In this context, the courage of Iranian prisoners, activists and the global movement for the abolition of the death penalty serves as a powerful reminder: The fight for human rights and justice cannot be silenced.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – Middle East/Israel Morning Brief
Trump names Morgan Ortagus, former State Dept. spokeswoman, as deputy Mideast Peace envoy
Incoming President Donald Trump has named pro-Israel former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus as Deputy Mideast Peace Envoy in his new administration.
Ortagus will serve with Jewish pro-Israel Mideast Peace Envoy pick Steve Witkoff, a close friend and confidant of the president-elect, according to the Jewish Press.
Ortagus is not new to politics. She served during Trump's first term in office, from 2019 to 2021, as the State Department spokesperson under Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an unapologetic Israel supporter. She was a member of the president's historic Abraham Accords team during her tenure and has remained close to Jared Kushner, a lead member of the team and presidential son-in-law.
Hamas releases video of Liri Albag, female soldier kidnapped on Oct. 7
Hamas published a disturbing new video, which features one of the young female Israeli soldiers kidnapped from her Nahal Oz military base abutting the Gaza border on Oct. 7.
The three-and-a-half-minute-long video was not dated, although Albag stated in it that she has been held for over 450 days, indicating that it was filmed recently reported the Times of Israel.
Albag, a surveillance soldier, was stationed at the Nahal Oz military base close to the Gaza border when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists poured into Israel from the Palestinian enclave. Fifteen surveillance soldiers were killed in the onslaught, and Albag was abducted to Gaza along with six others.
Trump, Netanyahu named most influential people in Israel in 2024
Although he placed 4th, Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir garnered the most coverage in the Israel National News report.
"Love him or hate him, but one thing is clear: Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir cannot be ignored. Almost all of his actions are controversial – especially in the police, where his opponents claim that he has completed the takeover of the police and its politicization with the appointment of Commissioner Dani Levi. They further allege that he is the almost sole responsible party for the trend of senior officers leaving the Israel Police."
Biden administration planning U.N. January surprise along lines of Obama's 2016 betrayal
As WorldNetDaily is reporting, the Biden administration is planning a "January surprise" that is "modeled directly on the January surprise of the Obama administration in 2016 – that is U.N. Resolution 2334, which basically, to put it a little bit crudely, recognized the Green Line that is the June 5, 1967, ceasefire lines that separated Israel from Jordan as an international boundary," Michael Doran, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and director of its center for peace and security in the Middle East, said on his podcast on Dec. 31.
Speaking with his co-host Gadi Taub, an Israeli historian and writer, Doran said that the Obama administration's surprise meant that "any development that Israel has made to the east of the Green Line since the 1967 War is recognized by the U.N. as an illegal settlement," reported the Jewish News Syndicate.
"This means including the Western Wall uh is 'occupied territory,'" the former senior director in the U.S. National Security Council said on the "Israel Update" podcast.
"Lots of neighborhoods that any Israeli today regards as Israel proper are regarded by 2334 as Israeli illegal Israeli settlements," Doran said.
Hezbollah chief threatens to re-start hostilities if ceasefire conditions not upheld
Hezbollah's reluctant chief Naim Qassem, warned the Iranian terrorist proxy would resume the conflict if in the organization's leadership's opinion Israel has violated the conditions of the shaky ceasefire.
Speaking on Saturday, Qassem rewrote the conflict's recent history, claiming Hezbollah successfully repulsed Israel's advance to only a few hundred meters, according to Ynet.
"Israel failed to penetrate deeper into our land thanks to the strength of the resistance. The resistance is powerful, deterrent and effective, disrupting the enemy's objectives despite the extensive destruction and Israeli aggression," he added.
Regarding the fragile cease-fire, Qassem said, "The resistance wielded significant power during the cease-fire. Israel was forced to request a cease-fire due to the resistance's capabilities. We faced unprecedented aggression, stood firm and broke Israel's strength. Sacrifice is the path to dignity and the resistance will continue."
Bipartisan approach to U.S. airlines resuming flights to Israel
For all but two brief periods in 2024, the major U.S. carriers – Delta, United and American – have not flown to Tel Aviv since the war broke out, citing security concerns.
El Al, now passengers' only option for direct flights to and from America, doesn't have enough planes to meet travelers' demand, leading to crushingly high prices and flights that are often sold out weeks or months in advance, reported Jewish Insider.
Some European airlines have recently resumed flights to Israel after Israel reached a cease-fire deal with Lebanon, while several Gulf airlines have been flying to Israel throughout the conflict, including the United Arab Emirates-based Etihad Airways, which is now operating three daily flights to Tel Aviv. But those realities have not swayed U.S. airline executives.
At a meeting of United's board of directors in early December, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said he has "no interest in returning to Tel Aviv only to pull out for a third time," according to a source with knowledge of the conversation. United has also not resumed service to Amman, where it flew during the first several months of the war but suspended service in August.
Pennsylvania man indicted on terrorism charges for joining Hezbollah
A grand jury has federally indicted an American who absconded to the Middle East with the intention of joining Hezbollah – the Iran-backed Shia terrorist organization based in Lebanon – the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Thursday.
The action affirmed the veracity of evidence that Jack Danaher Molloy, 24, had "attempted to provide material support and resources" to Hezbollah both in and out of the U.S., operating in his home state of Pennsylvania as well as in Syria and Lebanon between August and December 2024, reported the Algemeiner.
The venture ultimately proved unsuccessful, however, as Molloy – a dual citizen of Ireland and former active duty soldier for the U.S. Army – was, according to the department, rejected by his would-be terrorist colleagues. They reportedly told him that "the time was not right" for his enlistment.
WATCH: Blinken says Israel's war with Hamas won't define his legacy
Iran sold 2 million barrels of oil a day during Biden administration
Yet more evidence emerged about Biden's administration effectively being Obama 3.0 when the statistics about Iran's oil production and sale, were recently published.
Iran exported approximately 2 billion barrels of oil
–a significant increase compared to the volumes recorded between 2019 and 2021, according to Iran International.
Details from Kpler, a commodity intelligence company, reveal that Iran, whose daily oil exports had fallen below 400,000 barrels in January 2021, at the start of the Biden Administration, exported 1.6 million barrels daily last year.
Similarly, the United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) organization, which also tracks oil tankers carrying Iranian oil, says: "In 2024, Iran exported 587 million barrels of oil, an increase of 10.75% compared to 2023's 530 million barrels. Over the four years since the start of the Biden Administration, with less than one month remaining in its term, Iran has exported a cumulative total of nearly 1.98 billion barrels of oil."
Biden presented plans to strike Iran if it makes dash for the bomb
The Biden administration is amidst a flurry of activity as it seeks to do in less than three weeks, things it didn't manage to achieve in four years of power.
One of those critical issues is a report from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, which reported national security advisor Jake Sullivan presented President Biden with options last month for a U.S. attack on Iran, should the Islamic Republic push to develop a nuclear weapon prior to President Trump's Jan. 20th inauguration.
A report published by Axios on January 2 claimed the meeting included discussions of military "options and scenarios" but wasn't prompted by new intelligence. Biden reportedly did not make any final decision on a course of action.
U.K. poll predicts Starmer will be out of PM's residence within a year
Sir Keir Starmer, who seems to be the U.K.'s most unpopular prime minister in recent living memory – even more than the forgettable Liz Truss – will be gone from his official London residence of No. 10 Downing Street before the year is out, according to a poll published in the Mail on Sunday.
Voters are apparently furious over his handling of a number of issues, including the economy, the NHS, immigration, and the cost-of-living crisis. The recent revelations about his input into the prevention of prosecutions for Muslims involved in the child rape gangs will be similarly weighing on voters' minds.
Nearly a third of all Britons polled in the "state of the nation" survey expect the Labour leader to last another year at most, with more than two thirds (68%) saying he is doing "badly," just six months into the job.
And in news that will worry both Labour and the Conservatives, one in five voters thinks that Nigel Farage will be Britain's next Prime Minister.
Since Labour's landslide victory last July, the party has been dogged by a series of missteps, including rows over changes to farmers' inheritance tax reliefs, a tax raid on private school fees and freebies from donors and lobbyists.
America needs to wake up to the terrorism on its doorstep
Terrorism has once again arrived on America's doorstep, and tough questions need to be asked about how and why this happened, according to an op-ed in the New York Post.
How, for instance, was law enforcement so ill-prepared to recognize the signs of terrorism in New Orleans? And why aren't Americans adequately educated to identify potential terrorists themselves? Most urgently, what more can police do to detect and prevent explosive devices from being planted in our streets?
Unfortunately, lax laws dating back decades have enabled terrorists to use the United States as a base, and the internet as their tool for recruitment.
The 1996 Communications Decency Act, for instance, was designed to incentivize big-tech to remove content deemed harmful to children.
But Section 230 of the Act shields tech platforms from liability for harmful content posted by users, including extremist and terrorist material.
Terrorism-related content can proliferate without consequence, facilitating real-world violence.
Despite enhanced surveillance resources under the controversial 2001 USA Patriot Act, Federal law efforts failed on Bourbon Street. Law-enforcement agencies issued pre-holiday warnings that low-tech vehicle-ramming was a key area of concern.
Conservative leader Badenoch says public inquiry into 'grooming gangs' is only way to expose those who turned blind eye
U.K. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has joined the growing chorus to push for a public inquiry into the extensive child rape rings – also known as grooming gangs – where hundreds of Muslim men from the Indian subcontinent, the majority from Pakistan, systematically raped and abused more than 1,000 white working class girls and young women.
It was a scandal made possible by the collusion and cover-ups of officials, the police and politicians who were more concerned about community relations than about victims and their families, reported the Mail on Sunday.
The fact that perpetrators of this sexual violence appeared to have deliberately picked victims because they were white – and not from their own of the community or religious background – must not be ignored.
Previous inquiries have failed to examine this. It's for society and the state to address the issue, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.
The testimonies of the victims are hard to read. Girls being forced into barbaric sexual acts. Raped by multiple men at the same time or one after the other. Punished by grotesque sexual violence when they resisted.
Rutgers University failed to address hundreds of complaints alleging harassment against Jewish students
Rutgers University faces federal scrutiny according to a new Title VI resolution agreement reached between the school and the U.S. Department of Education, in which the school failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students during the height of the post-Oct. 7 protests its campus.
The agreement says that schools must review their anti-discrimination policies, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The agreement is the latest in a flurry of such deals to be reached with schools involving allegations of antisemitic harassment in the waning weeks of the Biden administration. The administration spent the better part of the last year immersed in dozens of anti-Semitism-related Title VI campus cases.
The Education Department's Office of Civil Rights announced in its report on Rutgers that "the university likely operated a hostile environment based on national origin/shared ancestry in university programs or activities without redress," adding that the school "subjected some students to discriminatory different treatment based on national origin."
IDF destroys weapons cache found in Syrian Hermon
Israel's lightning move to take the Syrian Hermon once it became clear the Assad dynasty had collapsed after 50-plus years of dictatorship bore more fruit over the weekend, after a significant weapons cache was uncovered … and destroyed, according to Israel National News.
During targeted raids, the soldiers searched military structures and key terrain points in the area, where they located, confiscated, and destroyed stockpiles of weapons and intelligence assets.
These included mines, explosives, anti-tank missiles, rockets, and launchers.
Two Israelis wounded in New Orleans car ramming are army reservists who fought in Gaza, Lebanon
Two of the people wounded in the murderous ISIS-inspired car-ramming attack in New Orleans on New Year's Eve are Israeli reservists who had fought together in battles in Gaza and Lebanon, and decided to get away to the United States for some rest and relaxation following more than a year of war, reported Ynet.
They're currently hospitalized in New Orleans and will only be flown back to Israel once their conditions stabilize.
The two have known each other since their compulsory military service and had planned to conclude their U.S. trip with a visit to a relative of one of them in Florida. The Foreign Ministry aided their families to fly to Louisiana.
One of the wounded is in a critical condition, and has already undergone two life-saving surgeries. His friend, while seriously wounded with limb injuries and internal trauma is not assessed to be in any immediate danger.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – As the Biden administration enters the final stretch of its disastrous run, people's attention has turned to what the final two or so weeks will bring. As far as Israel is concerned there appears to be both hope and concern with a proposed multi-billion dollar arms sale offset by the potential for an Obama-style stab in back at the United Nations.
Surprisingly, reports emerged from the White House on Saturday, which highlighted the Biden administration announcing its intention to approve an $8 billion arms sale to Israel, with the U.S. State Department "informally" notifying Congress about the proposed deal, according to the New York Times.
The deal reportedly includes artillery shells, small-diameter bombs, munitions for fighter jets and helicopters, and GPS-guided bomb systems. However, many of the munitions in the package are not intended for immediate use, as production is expected to begin soon. The final delivery to Israel may not take place for several years.
Meanwhile, protesters have for months demanded an arms embargo against Israel, concerned at what they view as Israel's overreaction to the slaughter of Oct. 7, without ever elucidating how they would deal with terrorists bent on killing all the Jews they can get their hands, but U.S. policy has largely remained unchanged.
In August, the United States approved the sale of $20 billion in fighter jets and other military equipment to Israel. However, during her car-crash bid for the presidency, Vice President Kamala Harris, of whom precious little has been heard since her definitive defeat in the Nov. 5 plebiscite against President-elect Donald Trump, admitted that despite congressional approval, she had a hand in the slow-walking provision of arms to Israel so it could continue its fight against the forces arrayed against it.
The Biden administration says it is helping its ally defend against Iran-backed terrorist groups like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.
In spite of the Biden administration's apparent backing for the arms sale, on New Year's Day senior Hudson Institute fellow Michael Doran predicted on the "Israel Update" podcast he co-hosts with Israeli historian and political commentator Gadi Taub that "a network of anti-Israel officials" in the Biden White House is urging him and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to spring a "nasty January surprise" on Israel.
Doran alleged it would be along similar lines to one of the final acts of the outgoing Obama administration in Decemebr 2016, in which then-U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power abstained on the vote for United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which sought to turn the ceasefire lines that separated Israel from Jordan before the 1967 war into an internationally recognized political boundary between Israel and a Palestinian state. This so-called "occupied Palestinian territory," included east Jerusalem's Jewish neighborhoods, the Jewish quarter of the Old City and the Western Wall.
"This year's January surprise aims to find Israel officially guilty of blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza, thereby laying the evidentiary basis for a new U.N. resolution punishing Israel," Doran posted on X.
This seems an unusual line of attack, and one which Doran and Taub mentioned on their podcast, in that U.S. ambassador to Israel Jack Lew put pressure on USAID's Famine Early Warning Systems Network to take down a report, which wrongly accused Israel of failing to provide enough aid to Gaza.
"The report issued today on Gaza by FEWS NET relies on data that is outdated and inaccurate," a statement from the embassy said. "We have worked closely with the Government of Israel and the U.N. to provide greater access to the North Governorate, and it is now apparent that the civilian population in that part of Gaza is in the range of 7,000-15,000, not 65,000-75,000 which is the basis of this report."
Doran explained the Biden administration, like the Obama one before it, will try to "have it both ways."
"The January surprise is that there will be an official finding by the State Department that Israel is in violation of 620(i). It's blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza, and then what will happen is that the president will waive the penalties for blocking of the humanitarian aid, but there will have been an official American finding," Doran said.
"There will be an official American finding, but there will be no penalties to Israel, so again the administration gets to have it both ways. Finds Israel guilty but then says, 'Well we're not going to do anything about it," according to the Jewish News Syndicate.
He added that the resolution, whether the United States officially backs it or not, will likely open the door to the International Court of Justice, International Criminal Court, European Union and others will use the "offiical American finding" to pressure Israel.
There is apparently division on this within the Biden White House, with different sides of the argument fighting it out among themselves, and it isn't yet clear if it would have the backing of Biden and/ or Blinken.
One other aspect is the likelihood the incoming Trump administration and Congress would likely prevent such a scheme from taking place.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
When the history books start discussing Joe Biden's presidency, there will be no lack of blunders to mention. Afghanistan, inflation, the border, transgenderism for all, abortion, making taxpayers pay for student loans they didn't take out.
But as 2024 drew to a close, a report in the Washington Stand identified the biggest three issues that stand out from the pack as Biden's biggest blunders as president — the issues that turned the greatest number of Americans against him.
Washington Stand senior writer Joshua Arnold explained that Biden "careened from one crisis to the next" during his time in the White House, which ends in just days.
That cost him "the trust of the American people."
First among the biggest is Biden's foreign policy, highlighted by his disastrous withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.
Biden ordered that "despite warnings from his advisors of the consequences that might follow such a decision. Without U.S. support, the democratic government in Afghanistan quickly folded to the aggression of Taliban militias. As a result, the Taliban captured $83 billion worth of U.S. military equipment, and a suicide bombing killed 13 U.S. servicemembers at the Kabul airport before the evacuation was completed."
Biden actually "threw away" 20 years of opposition to the Taliban and left the terror-linked organization "stronger than ever."
Catastrophically, he had America abandon local allies and even left behind America citizens there "with no way home."
Biden's second big blunder category was the economy.
"When President Biden assumed office, Congress had already passed multiple stimulus packages totaling trillions of dollars during the mandatory shutdowns in response to COVID-19. As a result, the Consumer Price Index inflation rate rose from 1.4% in January 2021 to 5.4% in June 2021. By this point, it should have been obvious that the U.S. government needed to take immediate, corrective action," the report said.
"However, at that point, Biden was asking Congress to pass another $4 trillion worth of spending on a progressive wish list. So, in June 2021 Biden claimed that inflation was 'transitory' and that 'no serious economist' thought unchecked inflation was on the way. Biden only convinced Congress — then controlled by his own party — to spend about half that amount, broken into separate bills."
The result was that Biden's inflation peaked at 9.1% in July 2022, and over his term, his inflation is continuing even now to cost consumers more than 20% for the same products and services as before he was elected.
He even resorted to "falsehoods" that inflation was 9% when he took office, which even leftists were unable to ignore. Actually, inflation was below 2% when he took office.
Third was immigration.
"When President Biden took office, he rescinded Trump administration policies that had effectively slowed the number of illegal border crossings down to a trickle — most notably a policy allowing for expedited deportation of migrants with no legitimate asylum claim and a policy requiring migrants to remain in Mexico while their asylum claims were adjudicated. These policy changes inspired more foreigners — not only from Latin America but from all over the world — to make the dangerous journey to America's southern border. Illegal border crossings surged to unheard-of levels: 3.2 million in FY 2023, 2.9 million in FY 2024, and a sum total of more than eight million encounters during Biden's four years in office, besides 1.7 million known 'gotaways,'" the report said.
In fact, the Biden administration's schemes to address the entry of illegal aliens actually brought them into the country "faster."
Among the problems that developed was the entry of suspected terrorists and criminal gangs that actually are now trafficking children "to force them into prostitution."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Wonder about how Americans felt during the last year of Joe Biden's term in the White House.
This would be the year when the administration pushed its pro-transgender and pro-abortion agendas to their highest level, when Christians over and over were jailed for praying outside abortion businesses, and after they'd already seen the Afghanistan disaster, an invasion of illegal aliens, and inflation of some 20%.
One revealing indicator is the "most popular" Bible verse for people during the year.
A report from CBN explains the information comes from the Bible app YouVersion, which revealed the verse indicates people "have been seeking God's comfort in tumultuous times.'
"This year, the most searched scripture was Philippians 4:6. It reads: 'Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God,'" the report said.
YouVersion chief Bobby Gruenewald said in the report it suggests people are more likely to turn to God when they face worry amid daily struggles.
He explained, "In many cases, our anxiety comes from holding onto worries that we aren't meant to carry. To me, this verse being sought out the most this year is an illustration that our community is seeking God in prayer and choosing to trust Him to carry their burdens—and we're seeing that supported in the data."
The app was designed to challenge people to seek God, and has been downloaded onto more than 875 million devices, the report said.
"I was just trying to figure out how to use technology to help people read the Bible more consistently," Gruenewald previously told CBN News.
The report also noted, "The words 'prayer' and 'peace' were among the top in-app search terms this year and the app's YouVersion Prayer features went up by 46% this year compared to last year."
The report noted every month of 2024 became the new record for installs and daily use of the app. Some 11 million new devices were added to its system each month.
"Countries like South Sudan (82%), Angola (68%), Mozambique (55%), Guinea (50%), Nigeria (35%), and Algeria (35%), saw a rise in daily Bible use in 2024," the report said.
Sales of physical Bibles also are up 22% over the previous year.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – Murmurings about the stability of the Islamic Regime in Iran are beginning to be looked at more seriously, as the dust begins to settle on the period of the last few months, which have been some of the most tumultuous in the country's recent history.
A foreign policy with regard to Israel, which relied on the strength of its proxy armies in the several countries encircling the Jewish state (despite Khamanei's meaningless protestations to the contrary) – the so-called "Ring of Fire" – painstakingly assembled over decades largely lies in tatters. His main ally in the Lebanese movement Hezbollah, former secretary general Hassan Nasrallah, was killed along with his most senior lieutenants in a two-month period from the end of July to the end of September.
Israel's exploding beeper and walkie-talkie operation exposed lapses in both Hezbollah and Iran's organizational structures, revealing the depths to which Mossad intelligence agents had penetrated both. To that end, the hugely embarrassing elimination of Hamas leader Ismail Hanlyeh on Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps turf in the heart of Tehran was seemingly the catalyst for a series of events potentially catastrophic for the regime.
Perhaps the portents for Iran were less than stellar when we regard its initial ballistic missile strike on Israel on April 13. Having fired more than 300 projectiles, including cruise missiles and drones, many did not make it out of Iranian airspace, the majority that did were shot down by a previously unlikely coalition of Israel, the U.S., France, the U.K., Jordan, UAE, and Saudi Arabia – the latter three not allowing their country's airspace to be used as flyover country for Iranian missiles. Israel's response, which some considered too subtle, actually impressed many in defense establishments across the world, who understood Israel had taken out a critical radar station with an ingenious new missile.
Iran's October mass missile strike, where it launched some 180 projectiles, was more successful, not least because Israel could not count on the same coalition as six months previously. However, the upshot of this attack was an Israeli reprisal, which comprised a third to a half of the entire Israeli airforce taking out all of Iran's surface-to-air missile defense capabilities.
Israeli warplanes had the freedom of the skies over Tehran, and were entirely unmolested, either by Iranian fighter jets or modern anti-aircraft systems. The footage of flak guns blasting into the Tehran night sky against Israel's state-of-the-art fighters was pitiful.
Meanwhile, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei defended his country's involvement in Syria's civil war Wednesday at an event to mark the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Quds Force leader General Qasem Soleimani in a U.S. airstrike ordered by President-elect Donald Trump.
Indeed, there are hints, if one knows where to look for them, that this one individual has never been adequately replaced. His influence over strategy and planning is seemingly so complete that his absence cannot be filled.
Khamanei responded to criticism of his country's defense of Shia Islamic shrines in Syria – at the cost of significant men and treasure – saying, "some people lack the proper analysis and understanding."
According to the Iran International website, Iran has promoted the narrative of the defense of these shrines in both Syria and Iraq – much like Hamas and other Palestinian Islamist groups do with al-Aqsa – as a justification for the military presence there.
"Shi'a Islamic holy sites, particularly the Shrine of Sayyida Zainab in Damascus, Syria. Sayyida Zainab was the granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad. However, following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Khamenei's rhetoric expanded beyond shrine defense, openly advocating an all-out war against Israel."
However, according to Middle Eastern analyst Eva Koulouriotis, there are signals all is not well in Tehran. She predicted the move to stop Iranian-aligned Iraqi militias from firing missiles at Israel and did so following Assad's fall in Syria. In comparison with Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen, Iran's Iraqi proxies were used somewhat sparingly, although they were responsible for dozens of missile and drone attacks, one of the latter of which killed two IDF soldiers at a northern army base.
She makes a damning assessment of the Obama stance during the P5+1 negotiations, which led to the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. In her assessment, it merely gave Iran the green light to do exactly as Obama had effectively stated he wanted; namely, a reorganizing of the balance of power in the Middle East with Iran cast as the hegemon. The apotheosis of this direction of travel was the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023.
Additionally, she points out, as have others that Iran is facing an energy crisis. A rise in fuel prices, frequent power outages, and increased commodity prices have added downward pressure on the economy. Matters came to a head earlier this week when the ancient bazaar in Tehran was the scene of protests for what many view as economic mismanagement.
As a result of what the regime perceives to be bubbling unrest, the IRGC has been granted more extensive powers to deal with Iranian cities becoming more restless. It is this increased scrutiny that led to the arrest of the female Italian journalist Cecilia Sala over accusations of "violating the law." It seems her crime was to collate reports about Iranian women and their experiences in the Islamic Republic.
After having looked at other factors such as whether the regime has settled on a policy of nuclear deterrence as well as the intense Foreign Ministry activity including a tilt toward Moscow and Beijing, in addition to keeping lines of communication open with Western, and even Arab diplomats, Koulouriotis concludes Iranian decision-makers cast a nervous glance at Syria given the speed with which Assad fell.
Reports about Khamanei's health, which have been doing the rounds for years, are now viewed with more urgency as he moves into his late 80s. It is thought that if he were to die suddenly, whether he has nominated a successor or not, it might prove catastrophic to the regime.
And above it all sits the Trump factor. In his first term, America's incoming president showed how he wanted to deal with Iran, creating maximum pressure on the Tehran regime. His Vice President JD Vance seems similarly disposed to think along similar lines. Factor in the Khamanei plan to assassinate Trump, as well as other high-ranking U.S. politicians, and the nervousness that is allegedly gripping Tehran may be heightened yet further.