This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A lawsuit has been filed against Kay Jewelers after a Christian employee was fired for talking about her faith with a co-worker.
Commentator Todd Starnes explained the situation had the markings of a "setup."
"The conversation happened in a back work area at a Kay Jewelers in Fairlawn, Ohio. The coworker continuously pressed (Mika) Cohen for her personal opinions about Pride Month. Finally, she explained that she is a Christian and shared her sincerely held beliefs on God's definition of marriage and sexuality," he explained. "A few weeks later Kay Jewelers launched a HR investigation into the conversation alleging her remarks were inappropriate."
Shortly later, she was fired.
"It certainly appears as though Cohen is the victim of a setup by a pro-LGBT staffer. To make matters even worse, it appears as though Kay Jewelers is anti-Christian. Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but Kay Jewelers is certainly no friend to Christians," he said.
It is the American Center for Law and Justice that took on the case.
It said it is defending "an employee's right to express her religious beliefs," this time in Ohio.
Cohen was dismissed by Kay from her position as assistant manager in Fairlawn, Ohio, for sharing her Christian beliefs with a co-worker after repeatedly being asked to do so, the legal team said.
The law firm explained how the situation developed:
While working at Kay Jewelers in June 2023, Ms. Cohen's co-worker asked for her thoughts and opinions on a religious topic. Importantly, while Ms. Cohen's co-worker prodded Ms. Cohen's position on the topic out of the earshot of customers or other employees, Ms. Cohen politely attempted to avoid speaking on the subject completely by saying everyone is entitled to their own opinions.
Nonetheless, the co-worker gave her opinion on God's creation of humanity and kept prodding Ms. Cohen to share her religious beliefs. After being pressured repeatedly to share her beliefs, Ms. Cohen finally shared her beliefs on the Bible's teachings.
The ACLJ confirmed there was "no quarrel or hostility," and the conversation ended shortly.
Then Cohen was informed by Kay that an investigator was looking into her "inappropriate discussions of religion at work.:
Then came her firing.
"No further explanation was given and no termination letter was provided – Ms. Cohen was simply told to pack up her things and leave," the ACLJ said. "This uncalled-for and unjust termination left Ms. Cohen and her family without insurance to cover medical necessities and much of the income upon which they relied."
Kay's parent company does, in fact, promote the leftist beliefs about "diversity, equity, and inclusivity" on its website.
"Clearly, this 'commitment' only applies to non-Christian beliefs that do not align with the Bible's teachings. Kay Jewelers' conduct in this case demonstrates no valid basis to fire Ms. Cohen, and its lack of transparency or accountability for violating Ms. Cohen's rights constitutes a blatant disregard for religious freedom and a demonstrative act of religious intolerance," the charges by ACLJ include.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A scheduled stopover visit to the U.S. state of Hawaii for Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te has prompted an angry response from China, whose officials are now urging the Biden administration to not allow Lai to land on U.S. soil.
According to TaiwanPlus News, Lai begins his first official trip as president on November 30th, and will be travelling around the Pacific, transiting in Hawaii and possibly the U.S. territory of Guam. Lai, who has been labelled a "separatist" by China, will be visiting the island nations of Tuvalu, Palau, and the Marshall Islands – three of Taiwan's remaining diplomatic allies.
China is accusing Lai of seeking independence for Taiwan by bolstering its diplomatic ties with the U.S. and other allies, something China says violates its one-China principle. China urged the White House to reconsider allowing Lai to land on U.S. soil, and to "stop enabling" Taiwan's "separatist" forces.
Taiwan, officially called the Republic of China, is a self-ruling democratic island settled by Nationalist forces in 1949 after they fled the mainland after they were defeated by the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong.
China claims ownership of Taiwan in its entirety, rejecting its independence, despite evidence the island's human habitation dates back tens of thousands of years, predating the arrival of the Chinese.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Chen Binhua said during a news conference China rejects any narrative that implies Taiwan is a separate entity from China, and accused Lai of relying on outside nations to gain support for Taiwan's independence
"This so-called 'transit' by the leader of the Taiwan authorities is essentially seeking independence by relying on [forces from] the outside," Chen said, "Any attempt to create a 'one China, one Taiwan' and 'two Chinas' [narrative] along with other provocative acts that violate the one-China policy principle, will certainly be opposed by China."
Chen noted that allowing Lai to land in Hawaii would send "the wrong signals" to forces that support Taiwan's independence.
"We urge the United States side to abide by the one-China principle and the provisions of the three joint communiques of China and the United States, and to stop sending the wrong signals to the forces for 'Taiwan independence,'" Chen said.
According to the Strait Times, China could carry out military drills near Taiwan shortly after Lai wraps up his trip around the Pacific.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Warning bells are going off over the increasing threat China poses to the world's data, and the vast network of undersea fiber optic cables that connects almost the entire globe to the internet.
According to a report from Regtechtimes, the internet often takes multiple paths before it reaches its destination, travellng along undersea internet cables that criss-cross along vast areas of sea and ocean through a process called routing protocols. Software-Defined Networking is an advanced technology that can change data routes and allow data to travel more efficiently.
While this system is valuable, it also brings risk as data can be spied on, manipulated, slowed down or blocked. China is a leading investor in SDN technology, and a number of Chinese companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party are some of the largest investors.
"Through these tools, China can secretly redirect internet traffic through its own networks, even when the data wasn't supposed to pass through its territory," the report states, adding one cable which connects Europe and Africa called PEACE can be redirected through Chinese systems despite it physically avoiding China.
The report further notes China has been mapping the ocean floor in great detail using underwater robots and research vessels, collecting data in the South China Sea, the Arctic, and the Indian Ocean. The mapping helps China plan submarine routes, locations of sensors, the deployment of underwater weapons – and exposes the location of undersea internet cables.
DW News reported last week there were suspicions China intentionally severed two fiber optic cables in the Baltic Sea, one connecting Finland to Germany, and the other between Sweden and Lithuania.
The Danish Navy reportedly said it had shadowed a Chinese cargo ship leaving the Baltic Sea after the cables had been cut. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius called the incident an act of sabotage.
"Nobody believes that these cables were cut by mistake. I don't believe the theory that it was anchors that accidentally caused damage to these cables. So we have to conclude without knowing exactly who did it, that it was a hybrid action… We must also assume, without knowing it of course, that it is sabotage," Pistorius said.
Kadri Liik, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said assuming the act was indeed sabotage, it would likely benefit the entity who carried it out by disrupting operations in the area.
"Always such things create problems. You need to send crews to repair it, you need to have spare capacity, and certain things [are] actually harder to repair than others," Liik said.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
"If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." – 2 Chronicles 7:14
Americans recently found out what can happen when tens of millions of normal, decent, patriotic, God-fearing citizens fervently pray to Almighty God to have mercy on their beloved but wayward nation – and to save them from falling under the excruciating rule of deranged sociopaths obviously in the grip of very dark forces.
Indeed, most Americans understood they were close to losing, perhaps forever, the greatest and most abundantly blessed nation in history.
Here's how Christian broadcaster and bestselling author Eric Metaxas put it one day after a would-be assassin in Butler, Pennsylvania, shot Donald Trump, hitting him in the ear while missing his skull by literally half an inch – and only because Trump suddenly turned his head 90 degrees at the exact right moment:
"I have said repeatedly for months that those who hate Trump would stop at nothing to make sure he doesn't get back in to the White House, including trying to assassinate him. I have also said God's hand is on him, and would protect him, if God forbid someone did try to do that. Last night we saw that happen. His survival was nothing less than a miracle. So be assured that God is not finished with this nation.
"But we need to pray," Metaxas urged. "We are in an existential crisis, and without God, this experiment in self-government will not continue. But it is God's will that it continue. So please pray."
Today, overwhelming relief and thanksgiving for God's mercy are breathing new life and hope –even joy – into the long-suffering American middle class that delivered Donald Trump's landslide victory on Nov. 5, while rejecting the Democrats' manifestly insane agenda.
Indeed, the hard truth is that the modern Democratic Party's agenda has devolved to the point of being not merely insane – say, like its insistence that men can menstruate, get pregnant, give birth and "chest-feed" their baby. It is, in fact, increasingly criminally insane. If that sounds even slightly hyperbolic, consider that the programs pushed full-throttle by the Biden-Harris administration have included (as confirmed by recent official U.S. government statistics) intentionally allowing tens of thousands of convicted murderers and rapists to be released from foreign prisons so they can illegally enter the United States of America and wreak untold havoc on the good people of this nation. Sounds pretty criminal, doesn't it?
So it is not, as Kamala Harris liked to say, that "we have a broken immigration system." It's that the Biden-Harris regime has intentionally broken it – inviting and facilitating murder, sexual assault, terrorism, gang violence, sex-trafficking of women and children, and rampant fentanyl distribution, the No. 1 cause of death of young Americans aged 18-45.
That's not just insane. It's criminal.
Likewise, what about cutting off the breasts of 13- and 14-year-old girls and amputating the genitals of boys who have been seduced by demonically possessed social media "influencers"? Today's Democrat elite love this! Last year, would-be vice president Tim Walz signed a bill, as governor, making Minnesota a sanctuary state for transgender madness targeting children, essentially allowing the state to wrest custody of a child from his or her own parents if they didn't agree with allowing their precious child to be permanently mutilated and chemically sterilized by mad scientists.
The Harris-Walz agenda also featured abortion with no limits – literally up to the very moment of natural birth, which is de facto infanticide. And true to form, in January 2023 Walz signed into law the Protect Reproductive Options Act which stipulated no restrictions whatsoever on abortion at any stage of pregnancy – and enshrining that into the Minnesota Constitution.
Is it any wonder that the American people, who are overwhelmingly NOT interested in brainwashing their children with toxic Marxist ideologies, seeing their nation flooded with tens of thousands of murderers and rapists, killing precious human babies, cutting healthy body parts off their kids, and allowing deranged men to completely destroy women's athletics, said "HELL NO" to the Democrats' agenda and candidates in the recent presidential election?
No wonder Americans are overwhelmingly happy at the prospect of Trump and his team rapidly reversing the destructive and perverse agendas of the Biden-Harris regime.
'Morning in America'
Some much-relieved Americans are now enthusiastically calling Donald Trump the greatest American president since Ronald Reagan, evoking the famous "Morning in America" theme of Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign. And indeed, there are many striking similarities between what Reagan accomplished after the chaotic and financially ruinous Carter presidency, and what Trump accomplished after Barack Obama's toxic and divisive eight years as president.
But of all the things common to both Reagan and Trump, and there are many – their obvious love for America, their insistence on "peace through strength" via a robust military, their enlightened economic policies, their buoyant sense of humor, and the respect they both inspired in foreign leaders – one other similarity is seldom mentioned:
Democrats compared both presidents to Hitler.
That's right. As Steven F. Hayward, author of the 2001 book "The Age Of Reagan" revealed: "Liberals hated Reagan in the 1980s. Pure and simple." For example, he wrote, "Democratic Rep. William Clay of Missouri charged that Reagan was 'trying to replace the Bill of Rights with fascist precepts lifted verbatim from Mein Kampf.'"
In truth, Democrats have long been addicted to accusing Republicans of being Nazis and their leaders of being Hitler clones, but no one has been targeted nearly as much as Donald J. Trump.
Unfortunately, accusing an American president of being like Hitler is not merely dishonest and insane, it is a de facto call for his assassination, since the most moral response to the real Adolf Hitler during the Third Reich was to attempt to kill him, and the participants in all of the many plots to assassinate "Der Fuhrer" are today considered heroes.
Yet all of this present madness is understandable in light of the biblical admonition: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" – Isaiah 5:20
Americans of every political persuasion need to come to terms with the inescapable reality that the current Democratic Party – whose leaders have descended to defaming tens of millions of thoroughly decent, moral Americans as "fascists," "racists" and "garbage" – has become the party not just of insanity, but of evil, where good is literally called evil, and evil is called good.
Fortunately, as Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson has astutely pointed out, Trump has actually ushered in a radical realignment of the two main U.S. political parties: "The Democrats are the party of the elite now. But Donald Trump has made the Republican Party the party of the working men and women … of this nation – the people that made this country great."
That bears repeating: Whereas the Democratic Party has long been touted as the party of the working man, and the Republican Party as the political home of the rich and the elite (though not really true, that was how the GOP was long characterized), today Republicans are unquestionably the party of the common working man and woman, while the Democratic Party is widely recognized now as the political home of the elite, the wealthy, the super-rich donor class and globalists.
Winning the war
So, what must good Americans do to hold on to their victory – this precious reprieve God has so graciously granted them – and which may represent their last chance to restore America?
Yes, Nov. 5 represents a great battle decisively won. The sane and normal people are in charge again. But the larger war will continue.
After all, most of America's key institutions, from the "mainstream media" to Big Tech to academia are still almost entirely in the hands of the Left. "Drag queen story hour" brainwashing sessions targeting the nation's toddlers will still take place. Ivy League colleges will still be full of unhinged Marxist professors. And of course, the more out-of-view realms of power and influence – of big money, of the Deep State, of foreign plots, of would-be assassins and every other kind of opposition – are still out there. Media personalities will continue to snipe, defame and try to tear down the Trump administration whenever possible, and to turn Americans against it.
And yet, it won't work.
Why? Because the credibility of the "enemy within" has been destroyed; tens of millions of Americans simply do not believe them anymore. Reports of CNN preparing to fire "hundreds" of staffers and MSNBC's ratings falling more than 50% since the election testify to the reality that Americans have finally awakened to – and firmly rejected – the lies being directed at them daily by the Left.
In light of all this, it's reasonable to take a leap of faith and simply dare to affirm that America is back.
The dream of America as a land of unmatched freedom and opportunity goes back to the settlers who celebrated that first Thanksgiving just over four centuries ago in 1621, when it really sank in to all involved that this land – America – was truly their home, a blessed land of unfathomably great potential for freedom and brotherhood.
Many Americans today thought this wonderful dream might have been lost forever, that their once-great nation had just sunk too deep into the muck of corruption and delusion and evil. But thanks be to God, America is back.
Yes, the Almighty picked someone to lead the current charge – Donald Trump. But this blessing goes beyond Trump. America itself is back – as long as true Americans hold fast to it, and honor and protect it.
Highlights of "MORNING IN AMERICA" include:
* "How God blessed the USA" by David Kupelian
* "Franklin Graham compiles eye-opening list of winners in the 2024 election: 'This win is historic in many ways. Millions and millions of people were praying, and I believe God heard their prayers'" by Bob Unruh
* "'How Great Thou Art': At 3 a.m. on election night, Trump supporters celebrate 'in awesome wonder' with memorable tribute to God"
* "Trump's win: The normal people strike back. It turns out the American dream is still alive in the hearts of Americans" by Ben Shapiro
* "Our election's utter losers and winners: 'Democrats will blame everyone and everything – except themselves, who sought to drive down the American people's throat the most radical and absurd agenda of the last two centuries'" by Victor Davis Hanson
* "Who did the billionaires back for president: Trump or Harris?" by Robert Schmad
* "The Democrats' 2020 victory: A blessing in disguise. 'Most Americans now know that the Left is morally and psychologically sick'" by Dennis Prager
* "Is the Left preparing for war after Trump's victory? 'Forecasts read like paranoid fantasy, but they're carefully scripted inversions of reality'" by Lee Smith
* "The 'Garbage Saint' president: All in for the people. 'With Trumpism triumphant, many now hope for a more just world and a better future' by Hanne Nabintu Herland
* "What's behind Trump's huge gains with black men? His populist realignment of America's political parties has caused a radical shift in the electorate" by Jarrett Stepman
* "The death of Obamaism – and the historic MAGA opportunity: 'America's cultural and civilizational divide, which was reflected in this election, is … between normalcy and sanity on the one hand, and decadence and freakishness on the other hand' by Josh Hammer
* "Vivek Ramaswamy explains Trump's sweeping victory… and what it means for America's future: 'I think the revival of our national self-confidence is the most important thing Donald Trump has delivered'
* "President Trump's plan to protect children from 'left-wing gender insanity' – in his own words: 'No serious country should be telling its children that they were born with the wrong gender – a concept that was never heard of in all of human history'"
* "The Trump Doctrine: 'The most successful foreign policy of any president since Ronald Reagan'" by Ben Shapiro
* "Trump's stunning plan to dismantle the 'Deep State': Described as the 'most important 3 minutes of video on the internet'" by Bob Unruh
* "Global warming was the big election loser: 'Every poll in recent years has shown climate change ranks near the bottom of voter concerns'" by Stephen Moore
* "Here's what would happen if Democrats had their way and eliminated fossil fuels"
* "1 more post-election victory: Americans no longer believe the 'mainstream media': 'The establishment press are less trusted than virtually any major institution in American life'" by David Harsanyi
* "Trump's win 'isn't the finish line – it's the starting point': 'If the sea of red from the election is any indication, Americans are energized as never before to put this country back on the right track'" by Suzanne Bowdey.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey says a court ruling that leaves in place a state law banning child mutilation is a "resounding victory" for children.
"We are the first state in the nation to successfully defend such a law at the trial court level. I'm extremely proud of the thousands of hours my office put in to shine a light on the lack of evidence supporting these irreversible procedures. We will never stop fighting to ensure Missouri is the safest state in the nation for children," he explained.
The comment followed a decision by the Cole County Circuit Court in Noe v. Parson, a dispute over transgenderism, that affirmed a state law protecting children from "harmful, unnecessary, and high-risk transition drugs and surgeries."
The ADF worked along with AG's office to defend the law, and ADF lawyer Hal Frampton said, "Missouri rightly enacted a law that protects the health and welfare of all children—supporting their natural biological development and ensuring that children experiencing gender dysphoria have support and medical care rooted in biology and science."
He pointed out, "Driven by ideological agendas, activists and the Biden-Harris administration have pushed these dangerous procedures across the country and are attempting to prevent states from exercising their rightful role to regulate the medical profession and protect kids."
He pointed out that around the world, nations that used to promote the ideology, now are backing away.
A report from a broadcaster, KCUR, explained the ruling was from Craig Carter, a Wright County judge serving in Cole County.
A ruling, 74 pages, agreed with the state arguments against what LGBT promoters called "gender-affirming care."
The report said the state's lawmakers in 2023 agreed to limit the use of cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers and undergo gender transition surgeries, which end up mutilating juvenile bodies and often leaving them sterile for life.
The law also blocks the state from paying for such radical actions for adults through the state Medicaid program.
The report said the ruling noted the U.S. Supreme Court allows lawmakers broad discretion in areas "fraught with medical and scientific uncertainty."
And the judge pointed out there is "an almost total lack of consensus as to the medical ethics of adolescent gender dysphoria treatment."
The judge said the medical profession "stands in the middle of an ethical minefield, with scant evidence to lead it out."
The judge also confirmed there are "concerns with deferring to the organizations relied on by plaintiffs, such as WPATH, which self-describes itself as an organization 'committed to advocacy.'"
That is the World Professional Association for Transgender Health which promotes LGBT ideologies worldwide.
The report noted the judge said, "If we don't let a 16-year-old buy a six pack of beer and a pack of smokes, or let an adult buy those items for them, should we allow the same kid/parent team to decide to change a teenager's sex forever?"
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The United Kingdom has, in many ways, gone over the edge.
It is demanding that it can control thoughts, such as silent prayer, in abortion business "no-go" zones where some people aren't allowed because of their beliefs.
It has worked toward a strict set of guidelines that would require people to make only affirmative statements about some extremely damaging lifestyle choices, because anything negative is "hate."
And now it is having police investigate 9-year-olds for saying someone smells like fish.
It's according to the Daily Mail that one student, put by officers in a bull's-eye, actually was alleged to have called a fellow primary school student a "retard."
Two schoolgirls found themselves under investigation for saying another student smelled "like fish."
These all are being compiled in formal police records as "non-crime hate incidents."
The government says such incidents are "clearly motivated by intentional hostility" and are recorded when "there is a genuine risk of significant escalation."
But, the report said, "incidents in classrooms that do not amount to crimes are not meant to be recorded."
The report said the situation reached a peak of absurdity when journalist Allisan Pearson was "investigated" by police over a social media post – from a year ago. The award-winning journalist told the Telegraph cops turned up on her door over something written on X.
Former police minister Chris Philp said the situations have become "totally absurd."
Not only does it take police away from pursuing criminals, it threats to chill free speech, he said.
A commentary at the Gatestone Institute noted that Britain now "might finally be waking up to the fact that it elected a totalitarian government."
As in like "the Chinese Communist Party."
The vague standard now is that "any non-crime incident that is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person's race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity must be recorded, even if there is no evidence of the hate element."
The commentary noted since 2014, British police have reportedly recorded more than 250,000 non-crime hate incidents in England and Wales. The non-crime incidents, logged in a system, can even show up, when employers ask for a copy of a prospective employee's criminal record."
The records show police recorded one boy for having an "unhealthy interest in weapons" because he owned a toy crossbow.
The commentary said, "There are lots of things that people did not fight and die for in the war but that the mainstream British media has ignored for decades: Mass migration from the Muslim world; rampant violence and terrorism; Muslim grooming gangs, raping, torturing, sometimes killing, hundreds of thousands of British children and young women while the police covered up their crimes."
The commentary noted that there even have been people jailed for criticizing Islam and mass migration, on the ground that they "were stirring up racial hatred."
The report explained, "Scotland Yard also spent 15 months investigating Maya Forstater, the executive director of Sex Matters, which campaigns for clarity about sex in law and policy, after a complaint that a post she made about a transgender doctor was a 'malicious communication.' She, too, was not told what tweet she was being investigated for or who had made the complaint until she agreed to turn up to an interview with police officers."
It found, "Most recently, the police informed a man, a street preacher, that saying 'God bless you' is a crime, if it causes 'distress' to someone who has a different belief – such as Muslims."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – The International Criminal Court (ICC) took the unprecedented legal step Thursday of issuing arrest warrants for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. This is the first time it has ever issued such warrants against leaders of a democratic country.
Under the terms of the warrants, Netanyahu and Gallant risk arrest if they travel to any of the more than 120 countries that are members of the court.
The court did not release the content of the full warrants, although an ICC statement said it "found reasonable grounds to believe" from Oct. 8, 2023, until May 20, 2024, at least, Netanyahu and Gallant "each bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts" as well as "the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population."
Both Netanyahu and Gallant are accused of a laundry list of alleged crimes, much of which seems to stem from the nature of the war, with Hamas being not just embedded but rather rooted within a civilian population. The court claimed both Israeli politicians failed to "prevent or repress the commission of crimes or ensure the submittal of the matter to the competent authorities," despite having the means to do so. It should be noted there is significant documentary evidence to show the lengthy process through which the IDF is subject to, which in many instances results in aborted missions because of the presence of the civilian population.
In the Pre-Trial Chamber's released statement, the judges highlight many areas of concern, which relate to humanitarian aid.
"The Chamber considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity, from at least 8 October 2023 to 20 May 2024," the ICC statement read. It further alleges, "cutting off electricity and reducing fuel supply also had a severe impact on the availability of water in Gaza and the ability of hospitals to provide medical care." It added these issues were only addressed when the United States threatened to withdraw aid, rather than fulfilling its obligations under "international humanitarian law."
Ultimately, the Chamber accused Netanyahu and Gallant of bearing "criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare."
Netanyahu and Gallant were also charged with "intentionally limiting or preventing medical supplies and medicine from getting into Gaza, in particular anesthetics and anesthesia machines." It claims doctors were forced to perform amputations, including on children, which without the requisite drugs, caused "extreme pain and suffering."
The chamber rejected Israel's petition against the warrants, which argued that the ICC does not have jurisdiction because Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute establishing the court. The pre-trial chamber ruled that "the court can exercise its jurisdiction on the basis of territorial jurisdiction of Palestine," which it recognizes as a state and considers to include Gaza, the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and east Jerusalem.
The Prime Minister's Office released a statement which rejected the "baseless and outrageous" accusations leveled against Israel. It further argued the nature of the charges, emanating from a corrupt prosecutor who is facing sexual misconduct charges over allegations of groping a female colleague, is antisemitic.
Members of Netanyahu's ruling coalition reacted with anger to the ruling. The court has "once again shown that it is antisemitic through and through," declared National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, while Transportation Minister Miri Regev called the warrants "a legal absurdity." Israel's former prime minister Naftali Bennett said the arrest warrants were not a "mark of shame on Israel's leaders, rather on the ICC itself." Another former prime minister and an individual who has been part of the decision-making process regarding the conduct of the war, Benny Gantz, wrote on X decrying the ICC decision as "moral blindness and [a] shameful stain of historic proportion[s] that will never be forgotten."
U.S. lawmakers fiercely condemned the ICC's decision to issue arrest warrants to the two Israeli leaders. Sen. Lindsey Graham labeled the move "absurd and irresponsible," adding, "The Court is a dangerous joke." Congressman Mike Waltz from Florida posted on X: "The ICC has no credibility and these allegations have been refuted by the U.S. government.
"Israel has lawfully defended its people & borders from genocidal terrorists. You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC & U.N. come January."
Despite the U.S. House sanctioning Karim Khan and other ICC employees for asking for the warrants, sources close to Netanyahu have apparently been concerned that the dying embers of Biden's term in office might provide a significant source of jeopardy for Israel's prime minister.
Meanwhile, an arrest warrant was also issued for senior Hamas military wing leader Mohammed Deif. This would ordinarily be an interesting development, however, Deif is assessed to have been eliminated by an IDF strike on Gaza on July 13 this year, after his position was revealed by a Palestinian courier. Hamas has never publicly admitted his death, although privately they are thought to have acknowledged it. The court dropped previous arrest warrants for both Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, whom the IDF terminated in Gaza in October, and Tehran in July, respectively.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Highly popular and highly controversial talk-show host and commentator Alex Jones has turned the tables on the Onion, a satirical website corporation, by filing a lawsuit charging that the bid process for buying his InfoWars empire out of bankruptcy was faulty.
A report at RedState documents how Jones "is striking back at efforts to wrest his company … from his possession."
His empire was moved into bankruptcy proceedings by judicial rulings against him, essentially ordered him to pay more than a billion dollars in damages to families of the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting based on his commentary about that episode.
The report explained, "During Jones' bankruptcy proceedings, Global Tetrahedron, parent company of satirical news site The Onion, submitted a winning bid to transform InfoWars into a parody site."
That bid process then was halted by a federal judge.
Now, the report said, "Jones has reportedly filed his own lawsuit, calling the bid a 'flagrantly non-compliant Frankenstein bid' and referring to it as 'neither legal, moral nor ethical."
In fact, the bid award was halted by a federal judge who had questions about its legitimacy, and has scheduled a hearing to review the facts.
The report said the rules of the bid were violated when Global Tetrahedron "relied on a hypothetical promise of future payments" from victims' families.
The New York Times documented that the Onion's bid of $1.75 million was increased with contributions from those families, "who donated portions of their court-awarded damages."
At an emergency hearing just days ago, over the dispute, "it emerged that First United had made a cash offer of $3.5 million. That is exactly twice the $1.75 million in cash offered by The Onion, a figure that was secret until the court battle dragged on," the report documented.
But then the Onion "sweetened its bid to $7 million with the backing of families promising part of their potential earnings."
The new lawsuit charges that Global Tetrahedron's bid needs to be disqualified and that First United Companies, the runner-up, should be awarded the bid.
The dispute came about over his claims the shooting was an orchestrated event in which victims were alleged "crisis actors," an opinion from which he later retreated.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
As President-elect Donald Trump prepares for his return to the White House, China has been secretly working on a land-based prototype nuclear reactor to power its warships, a move that signals China is moving further toward competing with the U.S. for global dominance.
According to satellite images and Chinese government documents obtained by the Associated Press, China has been rapidly modernizing and morphing its vast naval fleet, the largest in the world, into a "blue water navy" able to operate for long periods of time away from mainland China out in the open ocean.
Tong Zhao, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the AP nuclear-powered warships would elevate China into "the exclusive ranks of first-class naval power," which currently includes the U.S. and France.
"For China's leadership, such a development would symbolize national prestige, fueling domestic nationalism and elevating the country's global image as a leading power," Zhao said.
The AP further reported that researchers from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California have said the satellite images suggest the nuclear reactor was built in the Leshan mountains, located within the Sichuan province.
Senior fellow with the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Matthew Funaoile told Business Insider, moving further into nuclear-powered territory is a "goal" for China.
"They know that this is the hallmark of technology for propulsion on aircraft carriers," Funaoile said.
Furthermore, China currently has three conventionally powered ships – the Liaoning, the Shandong, and the Fujian. According to Funaoile, China has the ability to develop capabilities that outpace its peers. He did, however, note nuclear propulsion development is a complex process, and could take time before all three carriers, along with a fourth currently under construction, are fully nuclear-powered.
Trumps meteoric victory over Vice President Kamala Harris disrupted China's plans to further its own interests, with some analysts saying the ambitions of China are not just going to wane and disappear. China has been preparing for such an event to unfold and the acceleration in weapons development and manufacturing plays a part of that because it could lead to conflict.
Brandon Weichert, a National Interest national security analyst, a geopolitical analyst, and former congressional staffer, wrote in a recent op-ed the real threat to the U.S. is China's growing fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, something Trump will have to deal with, especially with China's plans to have at least 21 new nuclear submarines operational by 2030.
"The priority for the Trump administration when it comes to the U.S. Navy must be twofold. First, it must concentrate on building more submarines. Second, as part of that new submarine building program U.S. Navy shipyards must undergo the most radical modernization program since the Second World War," Weichert wrote.
Weichert noted the U.S. must build up its capabilities quickly, and warned if some radical change doesn't happen soon, China will surpass the U.S. submarine fleet in both quality and quantity.
"This must happen in an expedited manner. America was once the 'arsenal of democracy.' It can be that once again. But it cannot achieve this lofty goal by doing that which has always been done for the last 30 years."
Newly nominated Secretary of Defense for the Trump administration Pete Hegseth said during an interview the amount of bureaucracy within the U.S. weapons procurement system is slowing down any real progress.
"The Pentagon has a perfect record in all of its war games against China. We lose every time," Hegseth said, noting the U.S. is lagging behind China by a decade, further pointing out it is important to diversify weapons systems.
"China's building an army specifically dedicated to defeating the United States of America, that is their strategic outset… If our whole power projection platform is aircraft carriers, and you have the ability to project power that way strategically around the globe…if 15 hypersonic missiles can take out our 10 aircraft carriers in the first 20 minutes of a conflict, what does that look like?"
Kyle Bass, chief investment officer of Hayman Capital Management LP told Bloomberg Trump's so-called "China Hawks" are just realists on the threat China's President Xi Jinping poses to the U.S., which extends past the military, and into the economy as well.
"Xi Jinping has been telling you what he's going to do since 2017 in every public speech, every public appearance he's made,"\ Bass said, adding investing in China is a "fool's errand" and a "horrible idea going forward."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Protecting democracy was a catch phrase that Democrats have used for years to explain their hatred of now President-elect Donald Trump.
He was, after all, they said, a "Hitler." He would be a dictator. He would use the military against his political opponents, jailing them and worse.
The only salvation for America's "democracy" would be to keep Democrats, in this election Kamala Harris, in power, they said.
Now they've flip-flopped, and are openly advocating for the downfall of democracy, according to new analyses.
Jonathan Turley, the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, said, "Democracy appears to be losing its appeal on the left. After campaigning on panic politics and predicting the imminent death of democracy, some on the left are now calling to burn the system down in light of Republicans not only taking both houses and the White House but Trump likely winning the popular vote."
He pointed out that it's ironic that "Democratic politicians and pundits repeated the mantra that, if we did not elect Harris, this might be our last election."
He explained, "After losing that election, democracy appears to be the problem. The majority of Americans voting for Trump have been called 'anti-American' by Gov. Hochul. Other politicians and pundits have called them racists, misogynists, or weaklings seeking domination by strongmen and bullies."
Now, as protesters are calling for demolition of "the system as a whole," figureheads are joining.
"CNN's Bakari Sellers wants to pressure Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to resign and replace her with Harris. Former Harris aide Jamal Simmons wants Biden to resign to allow Harris to become president despite the vote of the majority," Turley explained.
The problem runs directly to the failing support for Democrats among voters, with Trump winning women by eight points and gaining ground among young voters, black voters, Hispanic voters and more.
"The call for Biden to simply do what the public did not want to do (in making Harris president) is particularly ironic. Many voters were repulsed by the Democrats simply making Harris the nominee after all the primaries were over. This was the candidate who could not garner any appreciable votes in the prior presidential primaries before being made vice president by Biden. Now, the idea is that she would be elevated by the unilateral act of Biden," Turley wrote.
Yet Simmons has insisted, "This is the moment for us to change the entire perspective of how Democrats operate."
Sellers just wants Harris on the Supreme Court.
"At no point in history has anyone suggested that Harris was a leading legal mind. Nothing in her history suggests that she is a competent, let alone promising, candidate for the highest court," Turley pointed out.
He noted "The one option that does not appear to be popular is to listen to the voters and actually return the Democratic Party back toward the center of our politics. The problem is now the voters themselves."
A commentary at the Federalist warned that, "Leftists are the great threat to democracy, not Trump."
"They chose the most extreme politician to run for president, through an antidemocratic process of selection. She epitomized the two great idols of the Democratic Party, its raison d'être: unrestricted 'reproductive freedom' (abortion) and coercive LGBTQ immorality. Harris in turn chose the most politically extreme running mate she could find, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz."
The writer, Robert Gagnon, explained the leftists controlled the news media, social media, colleges and universities, entertainment industry, Fortune 500 companies and more, and they still wanted more power.
He cited the Democrats' attempts at a one-party state through massive illegal immigration, their push for "trans insanity," "compelled speech" for pronouns, "unrestricted" abortion, including coercion for doctors and pharmacists who had religious objections to destroying the unborn.
Then they talked of packing the Supreme Court, ending the Senate filibuster and adding four senators to their party roll.
"The majority of Americans now see that the biggest threat to our republic is the Democratic Party that runs most of the country. We finally just got tired of the political extremism and totalitarianism. That's why Harris-Walz lost and why Trump-Vance won," the commentary said.