Author: Phoenix

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Biden Cartel Corruption Emotional abuse How sick is this? Reprints from others. Stupid things people say or do.

Dementia Joe Posts Thanksgiving Guide of How to Respond to “Crazy MAGA Nonsense”

Dementia Joe's post for thanksgiving

Thanks to

The Biden-Harris reelection campaign shared a “handy guide for responding to crazy MAGA nonsense” for supporters heading into the holidays with Trump supporting family members.

The guide shared talking points to respond to conservative rhetoric about subjects from immigration to the economy. One slide included responses to when someone claims “Trump secured our border!” to reply with a “No he didn’t,” followed by claims that “All he did was separate families, put children in cages, and leave behind a broken immigration system for Joe Biden to clean up.”

Critics across social media shredded the list of talking points, arguing it takes an especially insufferable kind of person to approach the Thanksgiving table looking forward to an argument rather than eating with family.

“Democrats literally publishing a script of how to be the worst person at Thanksgiving,” Republican digital strategist Alec Sears wrote.

“Imagine needing political talking points for a holiday encounter with loved ones,” podcast host Siraj Hashmi wrote.

“Reminder to all political persuasions: Preparing political talking points to use against family members on Thanksgiving is a form of mental illness,” author John Durant wrote. “Show some maturity, speak with the right tone, or change the subject.”

Other commentators accused Biden-Harris campaign of pushing “propaganda.”

“Biden-Harris putting out propaganda scripts to defend their campaign is… gross,” conservative radio host Jason Rantz wrote.

“All this gaslighting would make North Korean state media blush,” Twitchy’s Doug Powers wrote.

Dementia Joe’s handlers strike again.

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Biden Pandemic Corruption Medicine Reprints from others. Science Terrorism Tony the Fauch

US Scientist’s Warnings About Wuhan Research Facility Predated the Pandemic

Barack Obama shakes hands with Francis Collins, director of National Institutes of Health, in 2009. Collins said warnings of dangerous genetically engineered viruses were ‘science fiction’ In the last days of the administration, he said at a contentious WH meeting that a DOE threat assessment “reads like a movie script.”

“Delete That Comment”

In late October 2017, a US health official from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) arrived at the Wuhan Institute of Virology for a glimpse of an eagerly anticipated work in progress. The WIV, a leading research institute, was putting the finishing touches on China’s first biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory. Operating with the highest safeguards, the lab would enable scientists to study some of the world’s most lethal pathogens.

The project had support from Western governments seeking a more robust partnership with China’s top scientists. France had helped design the facility. Canada, before long, would send virus samples. And in the US, NIAID was channeling grant dollars through an American organization called EcoHealth Alliance, a controversial research group at the center of the Covid lab leak theory, to help fund the WIV’s cutting-edge coronavirus research.

That funding allowed the NIAID official, who worked out of the US embassy in Beijing, to become one of the first Americans to tour the lab. Her goal was to facilitate cooperation between American and Chinese scientists. Nevertheless, says Asha M. George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, a nonprofit that advises the US government on biodefense policy, “If you want to know what’s going on in a closed country, one of the things the US has done is give them grant money.”

The lab — where the FBI believes Covid leaked from — was found to have a ‘serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate’.

The official — who is unnamed due to concerns for her safety — from the NIAID, run by Anthony Fauci at the time, was instructed to erase the safety failures in her report to avoid angering China.

And this wasn’t the first time concerns over engineered viruses were dismissed.  A year prior, US officials at the DOE warned the NIAID of the dangers of genetically engineered and altered pathogens. However, longtime head of the NIH, Francis Collins, called the claims ‘science fiction.’

The NIAID official told her superiors what she’d gleaned from the technician who’d served as her guide. The lab, which was not yet fully operational, was struggling to develop enough expertise among its staff—a concern in a setting that had no tolerance for errors. “According to [the technician], being the first P4 [or BSL-4] lab in the country, they have to learn everything from zero,” she wrote. “They rely on those scientists who have worked in P4 labs outside China to train the other scientists how to operate.”

She’d also learned something else “alarming” from the technician, she wrote. Researchers at the WIV intended to study Ebola, but Chinese government restrictions prevented them from importing samples. As a result, they were considering using a technique called reverse genetics to engineer Ebola in the lab.

Anticipating that this information would set off alarm bells in the US, the official cautioned, “I was shocked to hear what he said [about reverse engineering Ebola]. I also worry the reaction of people in Washington when they read this. I don’t want the information particularly using reverse genetics to create viruses to get out, which would affect the ability for our future information gain,” meaning it would impair the collaboration between NIAID and the WIV. “I don’t feel comfortable for the broader audience within the government circle [to hear this]. It could be very sensitive.”

There was good reason to fear that such a revelation could derail the fledgling partnership. One year earlier, the US Department of Energy had warned other agencies, including NIAID’s parent entity, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), that advanced genetic engineering techniques could be misused for malign ends. The Energy Department had developed a classified proposal, reported on here for the first time, to ramp up safeguards against that possibility and develop tools to better detect evidence of genetic engineering. The proposal, which was not implemented in its suggested form, prompted a heated interagency battle.

F. Gray Handley, then NIAID’s associate director for international research affairs, responded to the email agreeing with the official. His response included: “As we discussed. Delete that comment.”

On January 19, 2018, the US embassy in Beijing issued a sensitive but unclassified cable that included details from the NIAID official’s tour. It said that WIV scientists themselves had noted the “serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate” the lab, according to an unredacted copy obtained by Vanity Fair. But the cable did not include the information that her NIAID colleagues apparently found most worrying.

For synthetic biologists, the idea of engineering Ebola isn’t seen as particularly unusual. Reverse genetics, using the CRISPR gene editing technology developed roughly a decade ago, is now a widely used laboratory technique. The WIV’s BSL-4 laboratory was designed to safely research Ebola, be it natural or man-made. Some scientists argue that, for research purposes, it can be safer to make a deadly pathogen in-house than to risk transporting it.

However, according to Stanford microbiologist David Relman, the risks of the WIV producing something new or unknown may have driven the government’s concern. “When you are reverse engineering Ebola, you have now established a platform from which you can do [a] million different things with Ebola, or something that you call Ebola,” he says. “It means you can now make any variant or construct that is Ebola-like at will.”

US government warnings about scientific collaborations in autocratic countries predate the pandemic and cut across partisan lines.

Any effort to shield the technician’s Ebola remarks from wider scrutiny within the federal government would be “a dereliction of responsibility,” says Gerald Parker, former commander of the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID).

Some view ongoing questions about biosafety at the WIV as part of a Republican campaign to discredit Anthony Fauci, who led NIAID for 38 years. But US government warnings about scientific collaborations in autocratic countries predate the pandemic and cut across partisan lines. Concerns flagged in the Obama administration persisted through the Trump administration and are being examined today.

“There’s a dark side” to certain research, says Jason Paragas. “Just because you’re doing it to publish a paper doesn’t mean no one is going to do anything bad.”

Between 2015 and 2023, at least seven US entities supplied NIH grant money to labs in China performing animal experiments, totaling $3,306,061 — that we know about.

“Serious Security Concerns”

Operating out of a sprawling 300-acre campus in Bethesda, Maryland, the National Institutes of Health describes itself as “the federal focal point for health research.” Each year it makes more than 50,000 grants, distributing the majority of its $48 billion budget to researchers in the US and around the world. Among its 27 institutes and centers is NIAID, which distributed $5.3 billion in the 2023 fiscal year alone.

For the NIH and its grantees, global collaboration and transparent data sharing are synonymous with scientific progress. Even a trickle of grant money to a foreign lab can pay dividends. It can give US researchers access to new environments and viruses and help build trust that may elude bickering governments. “It is almost always beneficial to exchange ideas and samples with other countries, particularly those with different climates than our own,” says Marc Lipsitch, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “I don’t see why science funding should be reserved for friendly countries.”

But within the federal government, there is a different world of scientists: those tasked with anticipating threats to national security. In the open exchange of cutting-edge research with scientists in autocratic countries, they see the risk that science that serves the public good could be misappropriated to cause harm—a phenomenon known as dual-use research of concern. Worries about dual-use research have only grown with the easy accessibility of DNA-editing tools. Those technologies have opened the door to miraculous treatments, such as using gene editing to reduce cholesterol and protect against heart disease. But “there’s a dark side” to certain research, says Jason Paragas, former director of innovation at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. “Just because you’re doing it to publish a paper doesn’t mean no one is going to do anything bad.”

Lawrence Livermore is one of 17 national laboratories overseen by the Department of Energy, a science and technology agency with strong intelligence capabilities, a number of whose scientists regularly review classified threats. “They spend their time in a dark world, faced with the nastiness of what could go on,” says Diane DiEuliis, a distinguished research fellow at the National Defense University. Sometimes they flag concerns for scientists who, given their focus on open research, are “not willing to even contemplate what they’re talking about.”

Based on classified threat assessments, and concerns raised by DOE scientists, Brouillette urged NIAID to use caution in its collaborations with Chinese government scientists

DOE officials issued their most specific warning in mid-2019, just months before the pandemic began. Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette alerted a top Fauci adviser that the coronavirus research the US was helping to fund at the WIV risked being misappropriated for military purposes. Based on classified threat assessments, and concerns raised by DOE scientists, Brouillette urged NIAID to use caution in its collaborations with Chinese government scientists. His warning should have served as a red flag for any research the agency was conducting with China, according to two sources with knowledge of the exchange.

A spokesperson for NIAID said, “We are not aware of this interaction.” A spokesperson for Fauci, who has advised seven presidents on infectious disease policy and [supposedly] championed expanded treatment options for HIV and AIDS, said he was unavailable to respond to questions.

Shi Zhengli – dubbed the ‘Bat Lady’ or ‘Bat Woman’ for her work on bat coronaviruses – “investigated the possibility” Covid could have emerged from her lab back in 2020, according to colleagues. And you thought that little mask protected you?

Though the DOE and the NIH have partnered on historic endeavors, from the Human Genome Project to the Cancer Moonshot, they’ve also battled over what restrictions, if any, should be placed on technologies that allow scientists to synthesize and edit DNA. “We came at it from the point of view, ‘There are serious security concerns,’” says Ernest Moniz, who served as DOE secretary under Obama. “Our view was always, ‘We have to address them in ways that do not unduly restrict basic science.’ But what is the meaning of ‘unduly’? There lies the entire matter.” In meetings during the final months of the Obama administration, the longtime head of the NIH, Francis Collins, dismissed such risks as “science fiction,” according to several people present.

This June, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) issued a declassified report that provided a snapshot of perspectives on the COVID-19 origins question across America’s intelligence agencies. According to the report, the DOE and the FBI believe the pandemic is most likely to have originated with a lab leak. The National Intelligence Council and four other agencies say the virus most likely spilled over from a natural host, and two others, including the CIA, say there isn’t enough evidence to support one conclusion over the other.

All the intelligence agencies agree that SARS-CoV-2 was not developed as a bioweapon, the report said, and “almost all” agree it “was not genetically engineered.” Three sources said that DOE scientists, using an array of advanced tools and working out of several different labs, including Lawrence Livermore, Argonne, and Oak Ridge, could not rule out the possibility that the virus’s sequence had been engineered.

The ODNI report also found that People’s Liberation Army scientists sometimes worked out of WIV labs and collaborated with its civilian scientists on biosecurity projects and coronavirus research to address public health needs.

The Chinese government encourages such intermingling with a policy called military-civil fusion, which aims to harness civilian scientific innovation to advance military goals.

“This Reads Like a Movie Script”

In 2011, a Dutch virologist named Ron Fouchier announced at a scientific conference that he’d genetically engineered what he’d later describe as “probably one of the most dangerous viruses you can make.” He had altered the H5N1 avian influenza strain to make it transmissible among ferrets, which are genetically closer to humans than mice are. The experiment had been funded, in part, by the NIH.

Fouchier’s announcement triggered an uproar over what’s known today as gain-of-function research of concern—lab work that enhances the virulence or transmissibility of pathogens to help assess their threat to humans and develop countermeasures. Though the NIH has advocated for such research, others in the scientific community organized against it, arguing that creating pathogens that don’t exist in nature runs the risk of unleashing them.

The Dutch government initially blocked Fouchier from publishing his findings, for fear that they could serve as a how-to manual for bioterrorists.

Amid the controversy, the NIH assembled a high-level group, nicknamed the “ferrets committee,” to advise it on the risks of funding such research. As one member of the advisory group recalled, “We were worried we could be in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention.”

From 2009 to 2021, the NIH was led by Francis Collins, whose achievements include discovering the gene that causes cystic fibrosis. In March 2012, Collins wrote an email to members of the ferrets committee in which he acknowledged, “I am not familiar with the Biologic and Toxic Weapons Convention. Can our crack legal staff offer any opinions on this question?”

The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, enforced since 1975, is the most significant treaty that governs the development and use of biological agents.

In response, a staffer emailed her supervisor: “I can’t believe he doesn’t know what the BWC is???!!! yikes.” The supervisor replied, “It shows you how different our worlds are.”

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Censorship Commentary Just my own thoughts Leftist Virtue(!) Progressive Racism Public Service Announcement Racism Racism.

When did ‘thug’ become a specifically ‘racist’ slur?

Recently, one of our Moderators — one of the nicest, if longwinded, people you will ever meet — was banned from a Disqus house channel for using the word “thug.” The moderator, Kandy and Iodine Tabs stated it was racist to “people of color.” Oh. Really?

‘Thug’ is an oft-used derogatory term, and it turns out the Thuggees of India were actually pretty horrible people.

The word “thug” has been in the American lexicon for a long time, but the origins of the word date well past even the founding of the United States. “Thug” finds its roots in the Hindi word “thag,” which translates into “thief,” and the Sanskrit word “sthagati”, which means “to conceal.”

The first reference to thugs dates back to the writings of Ziau-d din Barni, a Muslim political thinker and writer, in 1356.

The original thugs were members of the Thuggee tribe, a professional class of organized criminals who swindled, robbed, and murdered travelers across the Indian subcontinent from as early as the 14th century. Tracing their origins back to seven Muslim tribes, both Muslim and later Hindu members worshipped Mother Kali, the goddess of destruction.

The Thuggees would join caravans as fellow travelers, gaining their trust until they reached a remote place where it would be safe to attack.

At times, different members would secretly join at different legs throughout the journey, pretending not to know each other, until the Thuggees outnumbered the caravan’s travelers. They would then rob and murder the caravan members. The typical method of murder was strangulation, usually with nooses, leading the British soldiers to nickname them “phansigars” or “noose-operators.”

Once the travelers were dead, the Thuggee members would then dispose of the bodies before stealing the caravan’s belongings and escaping. Various historical estimates place the number of their victims somewhere between 50,000 to 2 million people over the years.

It was largely a hereditary profession with membership being passed down from fathers to sons. However, in some cases, the Thuggees spared the lives of young caravan members, instead adopting them and grooming them to become a part of the Thuggee class, and it was not unheard of that an outsider could befriend and then be recruited by members of the Thuggee tribe.

It wasn’t until the 1830s when the British governor-general of India, Lord William Bentinck, and Captain William Sleeman – British soldier and civil servant – worked to eradicate the Thuggee threat in India.

Relying on captured informants, they were able to try, convict, and sentence around 2,000 Thuggee members. Despite British claims that the Thuggee criminals had been all but erased from India by the 1870s, they remained pervasive in the cultural conscience of the British. English and later American writers in the 19th century continued to write about the Thuggee class and were responsible for introducing the word “thug” to the wider English speaking population.

While the word has morphed over time, adopting different nuances and cultural significance, the original conception of a thug as someone who operates outside the law has changed little in the last few hundred years.

Link here

The first printed reference to a “thug” appeared in Ziau-d din Barni’s History of Fīrūz Shāh, which was written in about 1356. However, the Thuggees as a group weren’t “discovered” by the British or even widely discussed until the 1830s. That’s when the British governor-general of India, Lord William Bentinck, and Capt. William Sleeman made a concerted effort to eradicate the thuggees from India.

Nearly 4,000 thugs were discovered and, of those, about 2,000 were convicted; the remaining were either sentenced to death or transported within the next six years. Sleeman then declared the thuggee to be completely eradicated.

This is a graphic that comes up when you look for “thug.” Is he white or POC?

Mark Twain wrote extensively about the thuggees in two chapters of his classic 1897 travelogue, Following the Equator. As critic Gladys Carmen Bellamy notes, Twain “found India a strange and sinister land,” and these feelings are quite clear in his descriptions of Thuggees. Twain devotes page after page of the book to describing exactly how the Thugs killed their victims; one chapter is titled “Eradication of Thuggee.”

Twain also draws a parallel between India’s Thugs and Westerners in this passage:

“The joy of killing! The joy of seeing killing done — these are the traits of the human race at large. We White people are merely modified Thugs; Thugs fretting under the restraints of a not very thick skin of civilization; Thugs who not long ago enjoyed the slaughter of the Roman arena …”

Gee, I guess Mark Twain was wrong, at least according to this Discus house channel moderator.

A thug is a  thug, no matter how much melanin s/he has.  It is someone operating outside the law. To claim that the term is inherently discriminatory against “People of Color” seems absurd and is itself racist.

How many blacks proudly use the term themselves? But if a white person uses it to describe ANY person, it’s racist?

Here in the United States, the word thug has long been a staple in rap lyrics. According to the invaluable site Rap Genius, “thug” appears in either the name of the artist or in the lyrics of over 4,800 songs. And Tupac Shakur famously had “Thug Life” tattooed across his abdomen.

Not everyone is happy with the prevalence of thug culture in hip-hop. As Tricia Rose writes in her book The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop and Why It Matters: “The thug both represents a product of discriminatory conditions and embodies behaviors that injure the very communities from which it comes.”

In the publishing world, “thug lit” refers to a genre of fiction that is trying to break into the mainstream. Best-selling author Wahida Clark’s website calls her the “Queen of Street Literature.” Clark is signed to Cash Money Content, a Simon and Schuster imprint that’s operated by the Cash Money record label, which is home to rappers Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne and Drake.

I guess Kandy has been into the thug life a little too much.

So if a white person uses it, it’s “cultural appropriation” and “racist.”

And on the subject of racism, African-descent people are racist against fellow ‘blacks’ depending on how dark their respective skin color is. Talk about the pot & kettle… This last meme says it all, Kandy.

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Biden Pandemic Drugs Medicine Reprints from others.

Peer-Reviewed Study On COVID Vaccine Shows What Happened to 1 In 35 People

After undergoing a full peer review, a newly published study in the European Journal of Heart Failure found that 1 in 35 people showed signs of heart damage after taking the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

The CDC openly admits that myocarditis and pericarditis (inflammation of the outer lining of the heart) are “rare side effects of COVID vaccination, especially prevalent in adolescents and young men.” Despite this serious concern, the CDC says the vaccine is safe for “the vast majority of people,” and that data shows “the low risk of complications from the vaccine is outweighed by the reward.”

The study concluded that adverse effects were more common than previously thought. The study also found that adverse effects were more frequent in women versus men.

“One in 35 health care workers at a Swiss hospital had signs of heart injury associated with the vaccine, mRNA-1273, researchers found,” according to the Epoch Times.

Researchers wrote in the paper, “mRNA-1273 booster vaccination-associated elevation of markers of myocardial injury occurred in about one out of 35 persons (2.8%), a greater incidence than estimated in meta-analyses of hospitalized cases with myocarditis (estimated incidence 0.0035%) after the second vaccination.”

“In a generally healthy population, the level would be about 1 percent, the researchers said,” the report found.

Adverse effects continued for a period of 30 days and half of the individuals showed unusually high levels of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T, which is an indicator of subclinical heart damage.

The long-term implications of the study remain unclear as little research has tracked people over time with heart injury.

“None of the patients experienced a major adverse cardiac event, such as heart failure, within 30 days of booster vaccination, and none had electrocardiogram changes,” the report added.

The possible side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine have been a topic of controversy in recent weeks. Business mogul and Tesla boss, Elon Musk, responded to the heart attack of LeBron James’ son, Bronny, by questioning the role played by the experimental and controversial COVID-19 vaccine.

Musk responded bluntly, “We cannot ascribe everything to the vaccine, but, by the same token, we cannot ascribe nothing. Myocarditis is a known side-effect. The only question is whether it is rare or common.”

In recent years, Americans have witnessed an alarming increase in young and healthy people suffering cardiac arrest. The 18-year-old son of NBA superstar LeBron James was rushed to a hospital after collapsing during a basketball workout.

Social media erupted with widespread speculation about what caused Bronny’s heart to stop despite being a young and healthy athlete. In recent years, any questions or criticism surrounding the COVID vaccine are effectively censored, banned, and labeled “false” by the almighty truth-bearers on social media.

Multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical companies are also wielding their power, influence, and money to shape the national discourse surrounding their drugs. Twitter boss Elon Musk recently exposed internal documents proving Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb helped censor Americans online.

“Nothing to see, no questions to ask,” Charlie Kirk sarcastically wrote.

Bronny is entering his first year at USC and he is ranked as a top-25 recruit and future NBA prospect by ESPN. A James family spokesperson said, “Yesterday while practicing Bronny James suffered a cardiac arrest. Medical staff was able to treat Bronny and take him to the hospital.” Bronny was discharged from the hospital after making a full recovery.

Here is the study. I’ll print the abstract and link to the article itself.

Sex-specific differences in myocardial injury incidence after COVID-19 mRNA-1273 booster vaccination

Natacha Buergin, Pedro Lopez-Ayala Contributed equally as co-first authors.

Abstract

Aims

To explore the incidence and potential mechanisms of oligosymptomatic myocardial injury following COVID-19 mRNA booster vaccination.

Methods and results

Hospital employees scheduled to undergo mRNA-1273 booster vaccination were assessed for mRNA-1273 vaccination-associated myocardial injury, defined as acute dynamic increase in high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) concentration above the sex-specific upper limit of normal on day 3 (48–96 h) after vaccination without evidence of an alternative cause. To explore possible mechanisms, antibodies against interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA), the SARS-CoV-2-nucleoprotein (NP) and -spike (S1) proteins and an array of 14 inflammatory cytokines were quantified. Among 777 participants (median age 37 years, 69.5% women), 40 participants (5.1%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.7–7.0%) had elevated hs-cTnT concentration on day 3 and mRNA-1273 vaccine-associated myocardial injury was adjudicated in 22 participants (2.8% [95% CI 1.7–4.3%]). Twenty cases occurred in women (3.7% [95% CI 2.3–5.7%]), two in men (0.8% [95% CI 0.1–3.0%]). Hs-cTnT elevations were mild and only temporary. No patient had electrocardiographic changes, and none developed major adverse cardiac events within 30 days (0% [95% CI 0–0.4%]). In the overall booster cohort, hs-cTnT concentrations (day 3; median 5, interquartile range [IQR] 4–6 ng/L) were significantly higher compared to matched controls (n = 777, median 3 [IQR 3–5] ng/L, p < 0.001). Cases had comparable systemic reactogenicity, concentrations of anti-IL-1RA, anti-NP, anti-S1, and markers quantifying systemic inflammation, but lower concentrations of interferon (IFN)-λ1 (IL-29) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) versus persons without vaccine-associated myocardial injury.

Conclusion

mRNA-1273 vaccine-associated myocardial injury was more common than previously thought, being mild and transient, and more frequent in women versus men. The possible protective role of IFN-λ1 (IL-29) and GM-CSF warrant further studies.

Find the paper here

Categories
Biden Cartel How sick is this? Leftist Virtue(!) Reprints from others. Warfare

A Seismic Victory in Gaza: Mapping the Tunnels of the “Gaza Metro”

One of the Hamas tunnels discovered.

By Malcolm E. Whittaker for Real Clear Wire

According to sources, Hamas’ tunnels under Gaza extend “a few dozen miles.” Other sources believe these tunnels extend hundreds of miles and rival the underground of a major European city. This has caused some commentators to refer to Hama’s tunnels as the “Gaza metro.” The ‘Gaza metro’: The mysterious subterranean tunnel network used by Hamas | CNN. Whatever their length, they shield fighters from surveillance and allow movement without fear of observation or attack. What if these tunnels could be precisely located? Rather than being safe locations, they would become death traps.

Commentators suggest the tunnels give Hamas an asymmetric advantage. The noted publication Foreign Affairs, states that only “[b]ulldozers can be used to expose tunnels during a ground operation. Drones, robots, or dogs can help clear tunnels. There might be a need to enter the tunnels to rescue hostages, as a measure of last resort. … This is how most states have eliminated subterranean threats in the past, and this is what Israel should do, as well.” (November 9, 2023, “Israel Must Destroy Hama’s Tunnels, Demolishing the Groups Infrastructure Is More Important Than Eliminating Its Leaders”). In short, according to Foreign Affairs, only personnel on the ground can locate and destroy Hama’s tunnels. Of course, Israeli personnel searching open ground to locate the entrances to the tunnels would be exposed to attack.

Currently used seismic equipment could locate tunnels using a system of geophones and pulse generators. However, personnel placing the geophone data acquisition equipment on the surface would be exposed to small arms fire and potential capture. The need to potentially expose personnel to attack while emplacing geophones would seem to defeat use of this well-understood technology that could readily and accurately locate Hama’s tunnels.

At its most basic, a seismic system can map layers in the earth’s surface. To do so, as seen in the figure below, a source generates a seismic wave. This wave travels through the earth and reflects off reflecting subsurface layers, such as the roof and floor of a tunnel, and these reflected waves are collected by a receiver. A source and be anything that generates a seismic wave. Currently, stamper trucks and explosives are frequently used to generate these waves. Seismic receivers are generically referred to as “geophones.” Geophones collect seismic data, i.e., seismic waves, and map the earth’s subsurface.

Fig. 1 – Schematic of Seismic Reflection Method – courtesy of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Geophysics webpage Seismic Reflection Methods | Environmental Geophysics | U.S. EPA

Current seismic technology readily available from the oil field will allow identification (and then destruction) of these tunnels. Wireless Seismic METIS (Multiphysics Exploration Technology Integrated System) uses a seismic recording channel collected by autonomous drones. These drones also drop DART (Downfall Air Receiver Technology) receivers, i.e., geophones. The DARTs are dropped by the drone and impale themselves into the ground creating a system of geophones to model the subsurface data. This system was thoroughly evaluated in Papua New Guinea in 2018. Wireless Seismic News — METIS field test yields excellent results. A single drone dropped 60 DARTs in one hour and these drones recovered “real time seismic data” thereby imaging subsurface data of underground voids. Precision guided artillery shells could provide the seismic source needed for the geophones to collect subsurface data. The DART’s would be dropped inside Gaza to model any location, i.e., not just locations close to where Israeli troops are located. Thus, METIS could accurately map the entire Gaza strip.

Once the location of the tunnels is known, they can be destroyed using deep penetrating bombs fused to detonate deep in the ground and dropped from aircraft. This could potentially interdict the entire system of tunnels. Even an extensive metro-like system of tunnels could be defeated if important chokepoints could be detected and collapsed.

Finally, this technology could resolve the ongoing factual dispute over whether Hamas has placed tunnels underneath hospitals, United Nations positions, schools, and other places that are protected from attack. While not a panacea, the METIS system could answer these basic questions and, potentially, turn Hama’s tunnels into a death trap for fighters using the tunnels. At least, it would mitigate any asymmetric advantage Hama’s tunnels provide.

Malcolm E. Whittaker is a former candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. Malcolm is an engineer and patent attorney in Houston, Texas.

This article was originally published by RealClearDefense and made available via RealClearWire.

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Biden Cartel How sick is this? Leftist Virtue(!) Public Service Announcement Reprints from others. Sexual Abuse Terrorism

As if we needed more proof that Palestinians collectively are evil.

Shock Survey: 89% of Palestinians support terror groups known for suicide attacks, while 75% approve of October 7 massacre

Another poll displays the results of cradle-to-grave hate indoctrination.

Thanks to Jordan Schachtel of The Dossier.

A new opinion poll released by the Ramallah-based Arab World for Research & Development (AWRAD) revealed that the vast majority of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip support jihadist terrorism and that Palestinians overwhelmingly approve of the October 7 slaughter in southern Israel that was carried out by Hamas.

Here are some of the key highlights:

The survey shows that 75% of Palestinians approve of the October 7 terror attack against civilians in southern Israel, which is described by the PLO pollster as “attacks” that were “carried out in response to contemporary and historic oppression.”

Despite supporting the October 7 massacre, 90% now support a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Some context to this:

In Arabic, a ceasefire is referred to as a hudna, and the term carries a very different connotation. A hudna is more of a strategic ceasefire that allows for a pause in fighting so that a competitive advantage can be built against an adversary.

In Western terms, a ceasefire seeks a more lasting end to hostilities.

A hudna is purposed with allowing for your forces to regroup so that they can continue the military campaign at a later date.

Now back to the survey…

Most Palestinians believe that “Palestine will win.” That prediction is not going so well. Hamas has not only not won, they’ve run away from the fight and decided to hide within the civilian populations, as the Israeli army has successfully split Gaza in two.

Now, here’s where the poll gets really ugly:

The Palestinians support the most ferocious jihadi terrorist groups while having nothing but contempt for the United States and even Arab countries that had previously attempted to assist them.

The Al Qassam Brigades, which is supported by 89% of respondents, is the militant arm of Hamas. They are known for carrying out suicide bombing missions and terrorist attacks on civilians.

Islamic Jihad (known in the West as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or PIJ), the second most popular group with 84% approval, is a terrorist organization that operates in Gaza and Lebanon. Their operations also include suicide attacks and indiscriminate violence against civilians.

The Al Aqsa Brigades, which, like the two aforementioned groups, is best known for its suicide attacks, receives an 80% approval rating. They operate mostly in the West Bank.

Hamas comes in fourth place with 76%. In all likelihood, Hamas is taking a back seat to the above groups because they are not committed to enough carnage against Israelis and the greater Western world.

This poll is not an aberration but the norm. The Dossier has reported on previous surveys that once more reveal the unpopular truth that is the cradle-to-grave radicalization problem among people who live in the Palestinian Territories.

Palestinians transported a captured Israeli civilian (center) from Kibbutz Kfar Azza into the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Oct 7.

Some who commited Oct 7 attrocities were kids ‘no older than 10’!

With this survey, and many before it, we can certainly put to rest the idea —advanced by President Joe Biden and the institutional U.S. foreign policy gang — that “Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people.” They most certainly do, sadly.

Categories
Back Door Power Grab Biden Cartel Green Energy Leftist Virtue(!) WOKE

EV-Owning Journalist Dismayed:Huge Number of Chargers Unusable. Hmm…

Forty percent of chargers inusable just in LA.

Imagine if 40 percent of the gas stations you went to had pumps that were dry or out of order. You’d think you’d taken a time-warp back to the gas crisis under President Carter.

Well, welcome to what it’s like owning an electric vehicle. And not somewhere in back-country Montana — but in super-green, super-techy Los Angeles.

According to a Wall Street Journal article published Wednesday, a test of 30 non-Tesla fast-charging stations in the EV capital of America — stations that had a combined total of more than 120 stalls — revealed at least 40 percent of them had some sort of issue.

“L.A. County has more public DC fast chargers than any other in the country, according to the Atlas Public Policy research group,” wrote columnist Joanna Stern, herself the owner of a Ford Mustang Mach-E EV.

“From the beach in Santa Monica to parking garages under Rodeo Drive, my video producer Adam Falk and I visited 30 different non-Tesla DC fast-charger stations in a Rivian R1T pickup. I ran into problems at 13 of them — that’s over 40%. Oof is right.”

Stern said that “[d]uring my testing expedition, I encountered three problem categories. I pressed the companies on why they happen, and what can be done to fix them. And while it’s good that Tesla will start accepting non-Teslas in 2024, that might not put an end to the issues I’ve encountered.”

(For the record, the experiment was deliberately limited to Level 3 chargers, a cut above the Level 2 chargers that are the norm at most public charging stations. “I ignored the more common chargers known as Level 2 because they’re just too slow for quick fill-ups,” Stern wrote.)

The first problem was simple: The charging station was broken, with “a sign, a dead screen or an error reading ‘Charger unavailable’ or ‘Out of service,’” Stern wrote.

She found that fully 27 percent of the 126 individual Level 3 fast chargers at the EVgo, Electrify America and EVCS stations surveyed weren’t working for one reason or another.

The problem in some cases could be solved simply by a company technician turning a troublesome unit off and on again, Stern wrote, though that’s not much of a help to a motorist who needs the charge immediately.

Electrify America’s vice president of operations, Anthony Lambkin, also said that issues with power generally could force the units out of service.

But the unit could also have a broken part or defective connector, Stern wrote, which requires replacement parts.

Stern wrote that part of the solution is replacing gear that is as new as five years old because EV charging tech is advancing.

Scrapping such new equipment seems like it adds to exactly the kind of waste environmentalists will tell you they’re trying to avoid — but nothing says that you care like owning an EV, no matter what the actual impact is!

The second issue had to do with payment — namely, it being rejected.

“My favorite stop? No. 18, an EVgo in Culver City,” Stern wrote.

“After I repeatedly tried the credit-card reader with several different cards, the system demanded: ‘CASH ONLY,’” she wrote. “As if this was some hot-dog stand in the park — except there’s no money slot!”

This affected nearly 10 percent of the stalls that were otherwise working. Both swipe read and chip read errors were reported.

“Why do these machines hate credit cards? Again, a few reasons. Karim Farhat, the chief commercial officer at EVCS, said the makers of the charging hardware and the credit-card reader machines are often different, so there can be integration problems,” Stern wrote.

Sara Rafalson, a senior vice president at EVgo, told Stern the problem could be chip readers mandated by the state.

“The newest standards require more dependable contactless card readers,” Stern wrote.

So, the solution? According to Stern, motorists should go contactless and use online payment systems like Apple Pay — although it’s worth noting that certain EV models can be registered with apps operated by EVgo and Electrify America and payment is handled automatically as soon as you plug in.

Surprise surprise, that’s exactly what the operators posited was the solution to this all.

The third issue? Handshakes.

No, we’re not talking about a sign of friendliness exchanged between two individuals, but rather a software error between the charger and the car.

“The charger and the car are both computers, and they use industry standards to communicate about how much power to transfer,” Stern wrote.

“The Combined Charging System (aka CCS) — the technology integrated in most fast-charging non-Tesla EVs including the Rivian — requires a quick handshake. If there’s a timeout before things align, you have to unplug and start over.”

Stern continued: “These stations from EVgo, Electrify America and EVCS tend to support CCS along with the Tesla charger, known as the North American Charging Standard (NACS), and occasional older standards as well. Meaning, unlike with Tesla’s own stations, there could be a dizzying number of combinations of car and charger.”

And, to make things worse, according to EVCS chief commercial officer Karim Farhat, a software update could be enough to throw the handshake balance off and make the car unchargable.

The solution to this? Getting the industry to agree on a standard. This might be problematic, considering that Tesla’s system seems to be viewed most positively by those who own the vehicles. At present, however, those systems only work with Teslas. When Tesla starts allowing models from Ford, GM and Rivian to start using its stations, some will be able to handle the vehicles’ charging system — but in other locations will require motorists to use an adapter between CCS and Tesla’s North American Charging Standard. That could cause a whole new set of headaches, as well.

Los Angeles isn’t the only place in California experiencing these kinds of problems with EV charging stations. A 2022 study by the University of California, Berkeley found that 22.7 of plugs studied in the Bay Area weren’t working properly and 4.9 percent had cords too short to reach their vehicles. (Tesla stations weren’t included here, either.)

And it’s bad enough elsewhere in the country that even on a tour to promote electric vehicles, the entourage of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm couldn’t find places to charge at times.

It’s little wonder, then, that while EV adoption was a hot thing for the last few years, the trend has cooled. The Journal had previously reported that EV prices are being slashed as electric cars go unsold on lots they would have flown off of just a year or two ago.

California, meanwhile, wants to ban the sale of internal-combustion cars by 2035 — and, in its biggest city, 40 percent of the chargers aren’t working now.

I can see the new license plate slogan now. “California: Drive Like It’s the Future, Fill Up Like It’s 1979.” Not exactly the thing to make voters — even Golden State voters — go wild, is it? Well, unless lawmakers in Sacramento change course in a hurry, that could be exactly what drivers will face from San Diego to the Bay Area and beyond.

And don’t think the rest of America isn’t far behind — not if the Democrats have their way, anyhow.

Categories
Leftist Virtue(!) Politics Reprints from others.

Anti-Israel Democrats ‘Horrified’ at GOP Plans to Stop Palestinian Immigration to U.S.

Ilhan Omar, André Carson and Rashida Tlaib

Several D.C. Democrats have refused to condemn the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel—that left over 1,400 dead— as they spew their support for Palestine. 

This week, Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) and fellow Republicans introduced legislation banning the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from providing green cards, visas, refugee status, and parole to Palestinians coming to the United States.

It would also revoke visas for Palestinians already in the U.S., making it easier for them to be deported.

However, the plan didn’t go over so well with anti-Israel Democrats, who have repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Democrat Reps. Andre Carson (D-IN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) called the GOP’s legislation “xenophobic, punitive, and [an] unconstitutional measure.”

In a joint statement, they said:

As the three Muslim Members of Congress, we are horrified by Rep. Ryan Zinke’s recently introduced bill to pause all visas, refugee status, and granting of asylum for individuals holding a passport issued by the Palestinian Authority indefinitely — and to revoke others. Using the full power of the state to target and persecute a particular ethnic group or nationality is fascism and pure bigotry. This legislation—by a former cabinet official no less—directly violates the U.S. Constitution and would illegally destroy the lives of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian immigrants who live in and contribute to American society. Though intended to target Muslims, this bill will also hurt Palestinian Christians, who will be targeted by these provisions. History will harshly judge this xenophobic, punitive, and unconstitutional measure. [Emphasis added] We call on the leadership of both parties to vocally and specifically condemn these comments and legislation, to make clear that anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate has no place in our politics, and to name it when it happens.

Oh. Boo Hoo. — TPR

Categories
Commentary Education History Leftist Virtue(!) WOKE

Elementary School Scraps Veterans Day Assembly, Replaces It with UN-Sponsored ‘Day of Tolerance’

How sad.

The quickest way to teach what “peace” isn’t and “intolerance” is among conservatives is to minimize Veterans Day at our kids’ schools. That is what one elementary school in Washington State is finding out.

Benjamin Rush Elementary in Redmond decided to forgo the annual Veterans Day assembly, according to Jason Rantz of KTTH-AM in Seattle.

Instead, school officials thought they’d replace it with something more current and, by way of their actions, important.

They decided to hold a “peace assembly” on Nov. 15 to honor the “International Day of Tolerance” sponsored by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The school noted the new event in the school newsletter on Oct. 29 and Nov. 5.

No one knew what it was, however, or that it would be replacing the expected Veterans Day assembly.

It was an unwelcome change for the community. The patriotic songs sung by the choir as well as praise for the heroes who served weren’t going to be heard this year.

One very annoyed and not-so-tolerant father of a Benjamin Rush student refused to take the attack on the holiday and all veterans lying down. He contacted “The Jason Rantz Show” to rant about the injustice.

He expressed his disappointment but said he wasn’t surprised. Maintaining his anonymity for fear of reprisal, the father said that “the school administration has moved strongly away from pride in our traditions and American history.”

The harm of this decision spans well beyond the veterans and widespread participation in the event by the community. The students will be robbed of learning the importance of honoring history, tradition and the lives of those who fought on their behalf for both.

Veterans once got an assembly and respect here. Now that pride is being redirected to a U.N. holiday.

The U.N. General Assembly proclaimed Nov. 16 as the “International Day for Tolerance” in 1996 following UNESCO’s adoption of a “Declaration of Principles on Tolerance” a year earlier.

“Among other things, the Declaration affirms that tolerance is neither indulgence nor indifference,” the organization’s website says. “It is respect and appreciation of the rich variety of our world’s cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human. Tolerance recognizes the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms of others. People are naturally diverse; only tolerance can ensure the survival of mixed communities in every region of the globe.”

What is really being taught in the school’s move speaks to the reason our nation is falling apart and will continue to do so. The school is replacing a real holiday pregnant with historical meaning and example with a mock holiday being forced down our throats, one that means nothing to any of us.

In this father’s own words, “We should be taking the time to show our children and our community that we have brave men and women who are willing to stand up and fight for our freedom and the peace that other places in the world can only dream of.”

According to KTTH, a district representative responded in defense of the elementary school, saying it will celebrate the U.N. holiday by having students watch videos and make cards that will be distributed to the Seattle VA Medical Center. The paltry justification fell flat on the father’s ears — and rightfully so.

It showed a lack of intelligence and ill-intention. Frankly, if school officials truly were all about honoring veterans and teaching peace, they could celebrate both holidays.

Ten other schools in the Washington Lakes district are celebrating Veterans Day. Benjamin Rush Elementary is not. Read between the lines, folks.

This school is making a name for itself and opening the door for the rest to follow suit. Its move is consistent with the agenda pushed by progressives, Democrats, and the radical left to remove history and tradition from children’s lives and replace it with fantasy, self-hatred, and hatred for everything American.

There is nothing embarrassing or hateful about being an American. We have much to be proud of despite our imperfect history. And hidden in that “imperfection” are lessons our children can learn from.

Honestly, “tolerance” in the United States has gone overboard. There is too much of it. This father sets a great example by putting his foot down.

We need more like him to do the same today. We need to stop redrawing history and playing pretend. And although I applaud his courage, we need to show our faces as we do. That’s how we save America and set an example for our children to follow.

Ultimately, removing Veterans Day isn’t the answer to national peace. Removing these kinds of woke decision-makers from their jobs and our schools is.

 

Categories
Biden Cartel Censorship Government Overreach Leftist Virtue(!) Reprints from others.

IRS Launches Audit Into Conservative Org – Timing Is Oddly Suspicious

IRS going after Conservative org that exposed them.

IRS Launches Audit Into Conservative Org – Timing Is Oddly Suspicious

The IRS is demanding ‘[c]orrespondence files, emails and information posted on a website that relates to current public elected officials’ — clearly a sign that they are targeting our research and education activities.

Who said this wasn’t Obama’s third term? Same tactics as before.

The IRS is investigating the tax-exempt status of the American Accountability Foundation following its reporting on President Joe Biden’s nominees, several of whom withdrew their nominations, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The IRS is requesting AAF submit internal financial data, as well as communications, including meeting notes, publications and newsletters, according to the letter from the IRS to AAF obtained by the DCNF. The conservative nonprofit organization, which the IRS approved for tax-exempt status in August 2021, alleges the investigation is in retaliation for the AAF reporting on several recent Biden nominees who later withdrew their nominations.

 

“This sudden request by the IRS is not random,” AAF President Tom Jones said. “The IRS is demanding ‘[c]orrespondence files, emails and information posted on a website that relates to current public elected officials’ — clearly a sign that they are targeting our research and education activities. It’s a deliberate attempt to punish and suppress AAF’s activities. It is surely no coincidence that AAF — the very organization that exposed the weaponization of the IRS — is now the target of it.”

AAF has actively criticized several Biden nominees, calling on them to withdraw.

For instance, Biden’s FCC chair nominee Gigi Sohn donated to several Senate Commerce Democrats, including $550 to Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, $100 to Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, and $200 to Democratic Sen. Michael Bennett of Colorado, according to The Washington Examiner. AAF sent a letter to Bennett, Cortez, Masto, Fetterman and Warnock, calling on the lawmakers that received contributions to recuse themselves from voting on Sohn’s nomination and calling for Sohn to withdraw.

The organization also repeatedly criticized Sohn over her assertion “that Fox News has had the most negative impact on our democracy” in 2020.

“It’s state-sponsored propaganda, with few if any opposing viewpoints,” Sohn added.

AAF spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on billboards and advertisements to persuade Americans that Sohn should not be FCC chair, the group said.

AAF also spent weeks in 2022 criticizing National Highway Traffic Safety Administration nominee Ann Carlson for her “radical” statements on energy and climate, including blaming Americans for loving “their cars and their cheap gas.” The White House withdrew her nomination after backlash.

The organization also takes credit for playing a role in the withdrawal of Biden’s Federal Aviation Administration nominee Phillip Washington, according to its website.

Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse attempted to influence the agency to open an investigation into conservative organization Turning Point USA, according to documents obtained by AAF in November 2022. This included calling for the IRS to look into revoking Turning Point USA’s tax-exempt status due to hosting a large event without masks and social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whitehouse also targeted AAF’s partner and supporter Conservative Partnership Institute’s tax-exempt status in letters to the IRS, according to his website.

The IRS audit is for the purpose of certifying that AAF “operates in accordance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code,” according to the letter.

“We demand that this abuse is put to an end at once,” Jones asserted. “The Biden administration is acting as the gangster arm of the Left. Our Constitution and Declaration of Independence guarantee our God-given right to speak the truth about the powerful without being punished and harassed. We will do everything in our power to keep America free.”

Under former President Barack Obama, IRS officials under Lois Lerner targeted conservative groups when reviewing tax-exempt status. IRS officials under Lerner participated in choosing groups with the words “tea party,” “patriot” or “9/12” in their names for audits.

“As the attorney for many conservative, tea party groups targeted and harassed by the Obama IRS a decade ago, this certainly smacks of the exact same tactics used by the IRS then … and apparently being used again now against AAF,” attorney Cleta Mitchell said in a statement.