Monday, October 23, 2023

The George Floyd Narrative Unraveled

His demise reminds us that that we live in 
a country governed by the rule of narrative


I wonder what Derek Chauvin is thinking these days?

He’s the former Minneapolis cop who became the Scapegoat Number One after George Floyd—sorry, St. George Floyd—died from a Fentanyl overdose while resisting arrest in May 2020.

As all the world knows, that is not how The Narrative tells it. Witness Wikipedia, that Great Repository of Approved Narratives. “George Perry Floyd Jr.,” it begins, “was an African-American man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd may have used a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill, on May 25, 2020.”

“Murdered,” eh?  “May” have passed a counterfeit bill, you say?

Well, that’s what we were told.

It takes a long time for someone to be canonized in the Catholic Church. There is an official process to be followed. Some miracles have to be recorded. One moves from being denominated a Servus Dei, a “servant of God,” to the status of being Venerabilis, to Beatus, and finally Sanctus. It’s much easier and much quicker with our secular saints. All you need is a festering politically correct grievance, a compliant media, and a terrified justice system.

So it was with the woman-and-drug abusing felon George Perry Floyd Jr. His corpse was not cold before he was elevated to secular sainthood  and became the mascot for the Black Lives Matter hooligans who, over the course of a year or more, inflicted more than $2 billion of property damage, injured or maimed scores of people, and released a mesmerizing, racially fortified toxin into the atmosphere that addled the minds and hearts of all the beautiful people who run the country and from which we have yet to recover fully. Last week, on the occasion of Floyd’s birthday, Joe Biden prayed at the shrine, issuing an emetic White House statement “to honor his life and legacy” and urge us “to redeem the soul of America.”

Back in 2021, Derek Chauvin, along with three of his police colleagues, were offered up as sacrificial lambs by Minneapolis prosecutors. ChaUvin was slapped with federal and well as state convictions and, as I write, is rotting in an Arizona prison for the murder of Floyd.

Alas for The Narrative, a large wrench has just been thrown into the works. The wrench itself was fabricated by Amy Sweasy, a former prosecutor in Hennepin County where Chauvin and his unfortunate colleagues were tried. But the fuel that hurled the wrench was provided by that indispensable public servant, Tucker Carlson.

You won’t read about it in The New York Times or The Washington Post. Neither CNN nor MSNBC will devote airtime to the story. But other, less establishment  outlets have it. Here, for example, is Alpha News, with the eyebrow-raising headline “Court docs reveal ‘extreme’ public pressure on prosecutors in George Floyd case.”

“New court documents,” the story begins, “expose the ‘extreme pressure’ prosecutors faced in Hennepin County to charge Derek Chauvin and three other former Minneapolis police officers in the death of George Floyd. Several attorneys opposed charging the ‘other three’ officers and withdrew from the case due to ‘professional and ethical rules.’”

Hmm. I’d wager Derek Chauvin would find that interesting.

But not as interesting as what follows.

During her deposition, Sweasy also discussed a revealing conversation she said she had the day after Floyd’s death when she asked Hennepin County Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker about the autopsy.

“I called Dr. Baker early that morning to tell him about the case and to ask him if he would perform the autopsy on Mr. Floyd,” she explained.

“He called me later in the day on that Tuesday and he told me that there were no medical findings that showed any injury to the vital structures of Mr. Floyd’s neck. There were no medical indications of asphyxia or strangulation,” Sweasy said, according to the transcript.

“He said to me, ‘Amy, what happens when the actual evidence doesn’t match up with the public narrative that everyone’s already decided on?’ And then he said, ‘This is the kind of case that ends careers.’”

It is worth noting that when he was testifying in court, Andrew Baker told a different tale, opining that Floyd’s death was a homicide.

Which version is true? “No medical indications of asphyxia or strangulation” or “homicide”? Watch Tucker Carlson unpack the episode together with the writer Vince Everett Ellison. The bottom line? “It turns out the whole George Floyd story was a lie.”  What will happen? Nothing. The truth will be ignored, swept under the rug. discounted utterly. Derek Chauvin, meanwhile, will languish in jail.

Many people, myself included, like to prattle on about the importance of “the rule of law” and other such nostrums. The case of George Floyd’s demise reminds us that that we live in a country governed by the rule of narrative, an entirely different dispensation.




X22, Christian patriot News, and more- Oct 23

 




The Temperature Plummets in the New Cold War: Hamas’ Terrorist Attack on Israel

The resolve of the Free World to defend Israel 
and all free peoples must not bend or break


America, Europe, and the entire Free World are engaged in a new Cold War. Our tentpole enemies of this Authoritarian Axis are communist China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea. Numerous other nations are either allied with this Authoritarian Axis; moving toward joining it; or are far too subservient to abetting its aims, which are the expansion and domination of their power across the globe at the expense of free nations.

Like its predecessor, Cold War II is an existential threat to free people everywhere; unlike the first Cold War, however, the present one is either denied or downplayed by Western policymakers, corporate titans, academics, among others. There are two main reasons.

First, the present Authoritarian Axis has learned from the failures of the earlier Cold War’s defeated and defunct enemy, the Soviet Union. Despite Khrushchev’s boasts, the Soviet economy could not compete with America and the West. Communist China, particularly, has leveraged its captive populace to attract Western capital and investment, enriching Free World elites; and, then, using that money to further leverage its control over other western institutions, such as academia.

Second, Western elites seek to hide their culpability for the policy failures leading to the far from inevitable advent of Cold War II. As noted last year:

Today, these corporate entities and the “sophisticated” Western diplomats who are more than happy to accommodate their interests have fecklessly restored and strengthened the strategic alliance between Putin’s revanchist Russia and Xi Jinping’s communist China. President Nixon’s strategic vision has been undone; and the present foreign policy establishment’s policy that a “rain of riches” will transform communist China into a democracy is as injuriously illusory as is Putin’s revanchist Russia apologizing to Ukraine and asking to join NATO.

If you liked “Back to the Future,” you’ll just love “Cold War II.” PLAYING NOW in strategic theaters across the globe!

Western elites’ responsibility for Cold War II has spawned the current incarnation of the “Ostrich Lobby,” those who contort current events into a false “narratives” and prisms that they hope obfuscates their failures. Unencumbered by such baggage, we can view current events through the proper prism.

It is tempting to believe these loosely concerted actions of the Authoritarian Axis are random acts of rogue nations and terrorists. Indeed, this is often how failed Western elitists portray such incidents for their own venal reasons. This is by design on the part of the Authoritarian Axis. It allows each of its component parts – be they rogue regimes or their terrorist proxies – to maximize their capabilities to harm free nations; and allows plausible deniability should their Free World victims ever come to the realization that there is, in fact, an overarching strategic alliance arrayed and operating against them.

In sum, the Free World is not being beset by a series of isolated incidents; the Free World is being besieged by strategically coherent and often loosely coordinated confrontations, all aimed at debilitating and, eventually, dominating free nations. Put another way, the Authoritarian Axis’ is acting in concert. However, it is less like a symphony, wherein the players roles are firmly fixed within the tightly structured work. It is more like free form jazz with each player having the freedom to perform their part as they see fit within the loose contours of the large confines of the musical piece.

Hamas’ criminal attack upon Israel advanced the aims of the Authoritarian Axis, which funds and abets their terrorist proxy.

These aims include:

-Precluding Sunni governments from aligning with or entering into peace treaties with Israel, thus halting any increases in the regional security and combat power of Israel and, ergo, the U.S., and the entire Free World alliance;

-Diverting new U.S. and NATO weapons and strategic systems/capabilities from Ukraine and American stockpiles to Israel, thus decreasing the firepower faced in that theater by the invading Russians;

-Distracting and eroding the Free World’s resolve, and diminishing resources and munitions stockpiles to deter the PRC from invading Taiwan, all the while further informing the Authoritarian Axis of the Free World’s tactics and operational capabilities; and

-Facilitating the Authoritarian Axis’ recruitment of new members by exposing the West’s – and particularly America’s – strategic vulnerabilities, vacillations, and fecklessness.

Inveterately, the Ostrich Lobby will denigrate and/or deny that the Free World is confronted by an Authoritarian Axis. Instead, they proffer that today’s authoritarian and autocratic regimes do not act in concert and/or through proxies, such as terrorist organizations, like Hamas. This strains credulity and insults one’s intelligence.  One wonders how the Ostrich Lobby will spin the New York Sun’s report that was highlighted by Mary Kissel, the former Senior Advisor to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: “Remember that in September Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, welcomed the Hamas political chief, Ismail Haniyeh to Moscow.”  Perhaps, they were discussing the early autumn leaves changing color in Kiev?

After all, many things are changing as the temperature drops in the new Cold War. But one thing must never bend or break: the resolve of the Free World to defend Israel and all free peoples from the Authoritarian Axis. 



Poll: More Americans Than Ever Have Zero Trust In Media



The number of Americans who have lost all confidence in U.S. news media has reached a record high, according to a new poll out Thursday.

poll from Gallup examining American trust in mass media found 39 percent have “none at all,” marking an all-time high since 1972 when the pollster first asked the question. Another 29 percent said they have “not very much trust” in media, which matches 2016 levels. Only about 3 in 10 respondents reported any real confidence, with 32 percent saying they still have “a great deal” or even just a “fair amount” of trust in American media. Trust in the news media peaked in the mid-1970s.

While Democrats have historically demonstrated far more trust in the media than Republicans, even Democrats have begun to lose confidence.

“The latest gap of 47 points is the narrowest since 2016,” the pollster reported. “Democrats’ trust in the media has fallen 12 points over the past year, to 58 percent, and compares with 11 percent among Republicans and 29 percent among independents.”

From being lied to about Brett Kavanaugh’s fabricated history as a serial gang rapist to Donald Trump’s apparent secret status as a Russian agent, Americans have even more reasons to be skeptical of the corporate press after 2016. This week’s coverage of an explosion in Gaza only did more to erode confidence in American news outlets.

On Tuesday, the Associated Press and The New York Times published Hamas propaganda, claiming Israel fired a rocket at a Palestinian hospital and killed at least 500 civilians. Audio and visual evidence presented by Israel, however, shows the blast occurred in a parking lot and came from a Hamas rocket that misfired. The Israeli claims were later corroborated by American intelligence. The European Union and U.S. intelligence put the true death toll at “dozens,” not hundreds.

The New York Times later tried to justify the way it uncritically regurgitated talking points from Hamas terrorists. “It takes time to independently verify the claims from all sides,” the paper said on Wednesday.

By that point, however, the damage had been done. News that an Israeli airstrike had apparently caused a mass casualty event set off protests at U.S. and Israeli embassies across the Arab world.

“Incredibly, the media are still ‘both sides-ing’ the false reports about the hospital bombing that wasn’t,” wrote Federalist Editor Mark Hemingway on Thursday.

Earlier today, ABC News reported that ‘Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib refused to apologize Wednesday for saying Tuesday that Israel is to blame for the hospital explosion that day in Gaza, an accusation that sparked political backlash against Tlaib from Republicans as Israel denies fault.’ In the media’s telling, the problem is not that Tlaib is knowingly repeating false accusations that are being used to justify violence; the real story here is how there’s a Republican backlash?

Gallup interviewed more than 1,000 U.S. adults aged 18 and older over the telephone from Sept. 1-23 with a 4 percentage point margin of error.



Adam Kinzinger Invokes Jesus in His Continuing Trump Hatred, Gets Completely Wrecked


Nick Arama reporting for RedState 

If there's anyone who has fully earned mockery over time, it has to be Adam Kinzinger, the guy known for his crying about issues. 

He's constantly starting Twitter flame wars now that he's no longer in office. I guess now being a propagandist on CNN isn't interesting enough for him. He has to keep trying to get a fix for being a troll on Twitter. It's sad, that's what he has descended to, and it's sort of funny that he's so wrecked himself because of his hatred of former president Donald Trump. 

That's the one subject he can never seem to let go of — the Trump hatred, just like Liz Cheney. We saw her having delusions of grandeur and not ruling out a presidential run when asked by CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday. She's completely a one-note, ranting about how concerned she is that Trump might get into office. Why would anyone vote for her for anything when she's so twisted?  

Our friends at our sister site Twitchy picked up on the fact that Kinzinger was letting loose as well this weekend, attacking Jenna Ellis. But he also tried to invoke Jesus in the process.  

"Jesus didn't support overthrowing elections," Kinzinger ranted including a picture of Jenna Ellis' profile in which she says she's a "servant of Christ."Might want to plea out now, everyone else has," Kinzinger said. 

Kinzinger is once again slinging nonsense. To him, it's okay if Democrats raise challenges, but not if Republicans do, and if Republicans do it, it's "overthrowing elections." But invoking Jesus to support his obsession was particularly bad. 

However, Ellis responded and reminded him that under our rule of law which Democrats haven't quite destroyed yet, people are innocent until proven guilty and they're entitled to a trial.

"Are you familiar with the 'trial' and execution of Jesus, Adam?" she schooled Kinzinger. 

"You might want to actually read the Gospel and understand the history here before making frivolous claims about Christ to score twitter points. You’re an embarrassment and I’m so glad you’re gone from Congress. "


Ellis also had fun with him saying thanks for bringing attention to her legal defense fund.

It's gross for him to invoke Jesus for his petty political agenda. Jesus isn't his toy to pull out for his whims. When he does that, it shows he doesn't understand much. 

But that's where a lot of the Never Trump folks are at this point — they're not about anything good, just about the hate. 



Conservatives Win Big in Switzerland, and the Top Issue Is a Warning Sign for Other EU Countries


Bonchie reporting for RedState 

The conservative Swiss People's Party has won the nation's election, according to projections. Garnering 30 percent, the SVP bested all the other parties by a solid margin, including the Social Democrats, which won 15 percent of the vote. The ruling Green party is projected to lose seats in the parliament.

What was the driving issue? Well, Politico's headline, which reads "Swiss Anti-Immigrant Party Projected to Make Record Election Showing," gives us a pretty good idea.

The far-right and euroskeptic Swiss People’s Party (SVP) is set to make its strongest showing ever in national elections, according to projections by the NZZ newspaper.

The SVP, which has centered its campaign on anti-immigrant rhetoric, is projected to win 30 percent of the vote, up from 25.6 percent four years ago and higher than pre-election polls. It has been the country’s largest party since 2003.

In an election dominated by domestic issues, the three other main parties — the Social Democrats, the Free Democrats and the Center Alliance — are also projected to make gains, with only the Greens and the Green Liberals projected to come out weaker than in 2019.

Europe is currently facing an extremely scary situation, with mass protests largely carried out by asylum seekers from the Middle East taking place across the EU nations. Chants of genocide and violent acts have been committed against Jews. Even Germany, which has long prided itself on combating antisemitism following World War II, has seen its streets overwhelmed. 

That obviously played a role in Swiss voters handing the SVP its biggest win ever, and the issue of mass migration (the EU doesn't consider it illegal because of asylum laws) is a massive warning sign to other European left-wing coalitions. There is only so far you can push a population, even if that population has a natural bent toward liberal progressivism. 

What we continue to see worldwide, with New Zealand and Argentina being other examples (the latter is projected to elect a right-wing president soon), is that countries that have suffered under left-wing policies are changing course. Meanwhile, countries like Poland, which have benefited from a lack of being overrun by asylum seekers, are growing fat in their excesses and shifting leftward.

It is clear, given all the demonstrations and hate crimes that have been taking place across Europe since the October 7th attack on Israel, that continuing to import asylum seekers with no ideological screening or limits is no longer a winning issue. European leaders can either adjust or be thrown out of power. Preferably both given they allowed things to get to this point.



Hamas And Hezbollah Are the Symptoms, Iran Is the Disease

The U.S. Navy should play to its strength, enforcing sanctions against Iran by controlling the maritime routes Iran depends on to generate cash for its empire of terror.



The U.S. response to Hamas’ Nazi-like massacre of Israelis, Americans, and anyone else in its murderous path has been, almost without exception, robust. But U.S. officials are missing the larger picture and risking being drawn into an escalation — on the enemy’s terms.

Hamas and Hezbollah are the symptoms; Iran is the disease.

But President Biden’s Oval Office address to the nation on Oct. 19 danced around the core issue of Iran’s financing, training, and encouragement of violent, brutal forces across the region and beyond, as well as its nuclear missile program.

Thus, the gathering might of the U.S. Navy off the coast of Israel in the form of two aircraft carrier strike groups and a Marine Expeditionary Unit betrays unimaginative, linear thinking.

If used, American firepower would augment Israel’s own considerable military force. In theory, this threat helps to deter Hezbollah from unleashing its arsenal of 100,000 missiles on Israel, many of them sophisticated.

But, like Hamas, Hezbollah is expert at digging. They hide their missile launchers in an extensive network of tunnels and bunkers — all guarded by an air defense network that is likely to get lucky enough times to raise the specter of captured American pilots.

The last time U.S. naval aviation operated over Lebanon was in 1983, in response to the Beirut barracks bombing in October — an attack that Iranian authorities arrogantly claimed credit for in the past month. Until 9/11, it was the deadliest terror attack on Americans. Two months later, the Syrian military fired on U.S. Navy aircraft, shooting down two A-6 attack jets and capturing an officer.

Optimal Use of U.S. Air Force and Navy

If the incremental addition of American airpower is helpful to the pending effort to destroy Hamas while deterring a wider conflict, that role can more than adequately be filled by the U.S. Air Force.

The U.S. Navy should instead be concentrating 2,000 miles to the east in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. There, the U.S. Navy would be playing to its unambiguous strength, enforcing sanctions against Iran by controlling the sea lines of communication that Iran depends on to generate the cash for its empire of terror.

Unfortunately, this would require a Biden administration that was both imaginative and strategic — and not in the thrall of a recently revealed Iranian influence operation that managed to place several advisors friendly to the Iranian mullahs in key national security positions since the Obama administration. Chief among these, Robert Malley, a longtime friend of Secretary of State Antony Blinken and an architect of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran, a deal that focused exclusively on Iran’s nuclear program, rewarding the mullahs with cash and sanctions relief while greenlighting their missile program and global support for terror.

Iran’s Nuclear Program

Instead, Biden’s systematic appeasement of Iran, a continuation of the Obama-era policy that weirdly sought to use Iran as a counter to perceived Israeli intransigence on the Palestinian problem, has resumed. Up until the gruesome events of Oct. 7, Biden’s national security team was willfully blind to Iran’s bloody history of sponsoring terror and its determined drive to produce nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them.

As a result, U.N. sanctions against Iran’s nuclear, missile, and drone program — never well enforced by Biden — expired on Oct. 18 with the U.S. announcing its own unilateral set of sanctions. The U.S. continues to pretend these efforts are somehow slowing Iran’s drive to push its nuclear program to completion, while Russian use of Iranian combat drones in Ukraine reveals the prior sanctions regime as inadequate to the task.

Reagan-Era Lessons

The U.S. never fully grappled with the Iranian theocracy after the shah was toppled in 1979. During the Cold War, it was assumed that the Soviet Union would come to Iran’s aid and that the military cost of defeating the regime would be too high.

Instead, the U.S. was content to see Iran tied down in a bloody stalemate against Iraq after the latter invaded in 1980.

As the war started to threaten oil exports out of the Gulf, America responded by providing a U.S. Navy escort to six Kuwaiti-owned super tankers in July 1987.  

After an escorting U.S. Navy ship struck a mine on April 14, 1988, the Reagan administration responded only four days later with Operation Praying Mantis. It was the Navy’s largest combat action since World War II, sinking an Iranian guided missile frigate, crippling a second, sinking four other boats, and destroying two militarized oil platforms at the cost of one helicopter with two crew lost.

The operation was thoroughly wargamed a year before, when it was determined that an unambiguously aggressive response to Iran would likely prevent the conflict from escalating. In other words, a disproportionate response would rob Iran of the ability to control the timing and mode of escalation, reducing U.S. casualties and preserving the peace.

Applying Force

This lesson from the Reagan era opens up a final consideration. Rather than following through on the foolish precedent of incentivizing hostage-taking via negotiation and cash payments, America should ditch the carrots and pick up the stick.

Imagine the transformative discussion over the current hostage crisis — and the forestalling of future hostage-taking by Iran and its proxies — if the U.S. were to announce that every hostage taken is worth $1 billion (or $1.171 billion if we wish to account for Bidenflation). That amount would be deducted from seized Iranian assets or taken from oil tankers filled with Iranian oil. The proceeds would compensate hostages and their families, with the remainder used to replenish the Pentagon’s waning stocks of armaments.

This is exactly the kind of naval power application the U.S. Navy was built for.

Unfortunately, the radical cadres infesting the Biden administration’s national security staff would never allow such an idea to reach the desk of our cognitively impaired commander-in-chief.



Judicial Watch Releases Report About the Death of Obama’s Chef, and I Have Questions


Jeff Charles reporting for RedState 

Remember when the news broke over the summer about the death of Tafari Campbell, former President Barack Obama’s personal chef? You could be forgiven for forgetting because the media went silent soon thereafter.

Now, there has been a surprising turn of events after Judicial Watch filed a brand-new report shedding more light on the incident.

We’re learning much more about the tragic death at Obama’s home.

We received 40 pages of records from the Massachusetts State Police that indicate the presence of Barack Obama for a witness interview in the death investigation of the Obamas’ personal chef Tafari Campbell.

The records, which are heavily redacted, indicate Barack Obama arrived at the emergency response scene via motorcade. A short time later, a cold, wet woman, who was a witness, arrived. The next morning, the eyewitness was interviewed in the Obama residence, again with Barack Obama present.

The report sparks a multitude of questions. It’s as if the more one digs into it, the murkier it gets. The primary issues at play are related to transparency, witness interviews, footage from the Secret Service, and other details.

For starters, there is the absence of information gleaned from interviews with potential witnesses. The documents that Judicial Watch obtained mention these interviews but do not give much in the way of detail. Surely, the authorities were able to get some valuable information from those who were nearby when the drowning occurred – why wouldn’t the details be in the documentation?

Next, the documents mention footage in the possession of the Secret Service. It showed “two individuals identified as CAMPBELL” and another unidentified person “walking on the boardwalk from the area of the residence, toward the shoreline of Edgartown Great Pond.” It also shows the two individuals “obtain paddleboards and paddles from a small alcove near the shoreline, and subsequently enter the water.”

The footage then shows a rescue swimmer “running from his assigned post towards the shoreline of Edgartown Great Pond” almost one hour after Campbell and the other person entered the water. So far, the footage has not been released to the public even though the investigators decided that Campbell’s death “is a result of an accidental drowning” and “is not criminal in nature, and foul play is not suspected.” The investigator also requested that the case be classified as closed.

Witnesses recounted the incident when speaking with the authorities:

[Redacted] explained that when she and CAMPBELL began paddleboarding, they both remained on their knees while they paddled in Edgartown Great Pond. [Redacted] continued to say that at one point, she stood up on the paddleboard, and then saw CAMPBELL attempting to stand up on his board shortly thereafter. [Redacted] stated that after approximately 30 seconds of standing, she observed CAMPBELL lose his balance on the board and saw him fall into the water. [Redacted] stated that she yelled to CAMPBELL to grab onto the board in front of him, however, she observed he quickly begin to panic while yelling for help. [Redacted] stated that she left her board and attempted to swim to CAMPBELL to help him, however, she said by the time she reached CAMPBELLS board it was ‘too late’, and he went under the water…. [Redacted] stated that neither she, nor CAMPBELL consumed any alcohol or drugs prior to paddleboarding.

One of the biggest sticking points with this case is the fact that Campbell was not able to swim. The document notes the chef’s lack of swimming skills in the investigation’s report.

The documents show Campbell’s family told police that he had taken swimming lessons in 2019 but described his ability as “not a great swimmer.” The drowning occurred in Edgartown Great Pond, which Massachusetts Environmental Police estimated “to be approximately seven to eight feet deep.”

The records also show a female eyewitness, an Obama employee whose name is redacted, told state police that she saw Campbell “fall off his paddleboard, began splashing and became extremely panicked, yelling for help and subsequently went underwater very quickly.” By the time she reached his paddleboard, the witness said Campbell had “disappeared into the extremely murky” water.

So, why would someone who does not know how to swim get on a paddleboard in water that is seven to eight feet deep?

Lastly, we have the problem of transparency —or lack thereof. Much of the documentation was redacted, meaning that Judicial Watch was not able to publish details that might be pertinent to understanding this case. This would make one wonder what the authorities are hiding. Are national security concerns at play, or is there something else lurking under the surface?

Of course, it is also possible that some of the redacted information concealed the identity of witnesses in order to protect their privacy. But it also left out information that was not related to the people on the scene.

There is also the question of why it took so long for the authorities to release this information. Judicial Watch submitted the request in late July, and it was just released.

In the end, this could be a simple tragic case of drowning. Unfortunately, it happens quite often. But the secrecy surrounding this incident leaves questions that may never be answered.



War Tourism

Will Lookie-Loo politicians please stop 
flying overseas for war zone photo ops?



On Wednesday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul posted a picture on X showing her walking off the plane after arriving in Tel Aviv with her face screwed up into a stern, serious look.


Governor Ratched explained that she flew to Israel because “New York and Israel share a special bond,” and she wanted to “show our solidarity with the Israeli people” after the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas.


Why in Lucifer’s reach do politicians insist on traveling overseas to show “solidarity” with an American ally currently fighting for its survival?


Has Kathy never heard of telephones?


She could have easily expressed her “solidarity with the Israeli people” through the miracle of telephonics.


But no! She has to board a plane and fly there because ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, war tourism has been all the rage among American politicians.


Nothing beats getting photographed posing with Zelensky or Netanyahu if you want to boost your public profile back home.


If you go to Kathy’s official X account, you will find oodles of pictures of her tour of a country at war because getting oodles of photographs is the whole point of this performative nonsense.


Kathy’s war tourism is nothing more than a giant photo op.


There is not a single thing she managed to do during her visit that she couldn’t have accomplished over the phone.


But Kathy isn’t the only Democrat governor flying off for a little war tourism.


Thursday evening, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he was “on my way to Israel” to meet with “those impacted by the horrific terrorist attack” and offer “California’s support.”


Florida is shipping supplies to Israel while flying stranded Americans back home — all without Governor Ron DeSantis boarding a plane with a photographer and flying to Tel Aviv.


And that right there is the difference between attention-seeking and seeking results.


Newsom and Hochul aren’t flying to Israel to accomplish anything they couldn’t do over the phone. They’re doing it to preen before cameras to pose as proactive leaders when in reality, they’re opportunistic Lookie-Loos.


War tourism is the political version of stolen valor.


Politicians want to be photographed beside Netanyahu or Zelensky in hopes that by doing so, some of the bravery and gravitas that comes with being the leader of a country at war will rub off on them.


This is why Kathy was sure to get loads of pictures showing her in a flak jacket touring the kibbutz where so many Israelis were brutally massacred.



Sure, it’s craven and opportunistic, but that’s how most American politicians are.


As she was flying to Israel in her quest for valor by proxy, Kathy learned that her father died suddenly, and, plucky war tourist that she is, she found a way to work his death into her shameless self-promotion.


Kathy was sure to get photographed weeping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem as she left a written prayer for her father between the stones …



… and even had the photographer come along when she staged a “private” prayer at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.



Gak. I’m sorry, but it’s all so obscene.


When I learned of my mother’s death on July 31, finding someone to snap a picture of me sobbing in my living room never even entered my mind.


Whenever I think I couldn’t possibly despise Kathy Hochul more, she proves me wrong.


Israeli officials have more important things to do right now. They shouldn’t have to waste their time playing tour guide to attention-seeking politicians desperate to stage a war zone photo op.


Sweet merciful Zeus, stop getting underfoot where you aren’t needed.


And next time you want to show your “solidarity,” just pick up the bloody phone!