Saturday Miscellany

First, from Joanne Mason’s Twitter:

Still not clear how kidnapping babies after filming yourself torturing and murdering their fathers and raping their mothers and sisters proves you just want to live in peace, but then I'm no U.N. specialist on the rights of women and girls.

Second, Alex Plitsas watched the video of the Hamas October 7 atrocities. Of course, Hamas fighters filmed it all themselves, making it more difficult to deny them credit.

At no point was there a political statement made about a Palestinian state or historic grievances. Just pure, unadulterated, cruel violence and sociopathic laughter and enjoyment by those committing some of the most heinous crimes I’ve ever witnessed. They actually enjoyed it.

And this, in response to Plitsas:

One of the more chilling and vile aspects of this attack that differs from videos I’ve seen of both Al-Qaeda and Isis atrocities is the maniacal laughter and the joy that the terrorists expressed while torturing and murdering unarmed civilians to include women and small children.

Third, the propaganda war continues. And Hamas is more than happy to lie. This, via Sisterinferior:

In "response" to the terrorist attack that violated the ceasefire, some people are posting a video they're claiming is an Israeli murdering a Palestinian pregnant woman, trying to garner your sympathies or downplay the terrorism. Except the video is an Arabic honor killing.

Better yet, from OliLondonTV:

A Palestinian woman surrounded by media sheds ‘tears’ while clutching a plastic baby doll that she is attempting to pass off as her dead child during a staged Hamas propaganda video.

Fourth, meanwhile, in Oakland, California, we saw what happens when you turn a meritocracy into an idiotocracy. From Nellie Bowles on The Free Press:

In an official Oakland, California meeting on whether the city should call for a cease-fire in the Middle East (Israel awaits the binding decision), a curious scene unfolded. Speaker after speaker took to the microphone to defend Hamas’s honor and deny the atrocities of October 7. One speaker: “There’s not been beheadings of babies and rapings. Israel murdered their own people on October 7.” Another: “The notion that this was a massacre of Jews is a fabricated narrative. Many of those killed on October 7, including children, were killed by the IDF.” Another: “Calling Hamas a terrorist organization is ridiculous, racist, and plays into genocidal propaganda.” Another: “Asking with this context to condemn Hamas is very anti-Arab racist.”

If it was not stupid, it would be pathetic. If it was not pathetic, it would be dangerous.

Fifth, while you and I were worrying about the explosion of anti-Semitism on America’s great university campuses, we missed what turns out to be a more salient story. That would be the story of one Amy McFadden. She is a senior figure in the CIA. Surely, she got her job solely on her merits. 

And yet, somehow or other, she managed to tweet her support for Hamas-- and, to the best of my knowledge, she still has her job.

The New York Post has the story:

Amy McFadden, a decorated intelligence officer once responsible for overseeing the production of the all-important President’s Daily Brief, shared Palestinian propaganda on her Facebook page just two weeks after the Black Sabbath massacre, the Financial Times reports.

The woman who serves as one of three officials “responsible for approving all analysis disseminated inside the agency” changed her cover photo to an image of a man waving a Palestinian flag in a keffiyeh-patterned shirt — a design euphemistically referred to as a symbol of Palestinian “solidarity” popularized by the late Palestine Liberation Organization terrorist-in-chief Yasser Arafat.

McFadden previously posted “a selfie with a sticker saying ‘Free Palestine’ superimposed on the photograph,” FT says.

It is bad enough for an American official to share a domestic political message on social media.

It’s infinitely worse when not just any official but a senior intelligence hand publicly promotes a foreign political cause — in this instance, Palestinian nationalism, right after Hamas’ Nazis executed a catastrophic and savage attack overwhelmingly supported by Palestinian Arabs against one of America’s foremost allies.

The Free Beacon adds that McFadden had in recent days liked a LinkedIn post from the International Crisis Group promoting an article critical of Israel for “making the utter defeat of Hamas its top priority.”

Tells you something about the Biden administration, chock full of Israel-haters. But don’t you dare call them anti-Semites.

Sixth, speaking of idiots, what would we do without Kamala Harris reminding us that America is no longer a meritocracy:

QUESTION: Do you think Israel is following the rules of war? 

KAMALA HARRIS: "Well that's a very broad question. There are many rules."

Kamala is now flying to Abu Dhabi to lend her presence to some climate change conference-- and to embarrass America.

Seventh, on the climate change front, the war against the weather continues. Unfortunately, the Biden eco-warriors are not making very much progress. CBS News reports:

Electric vehicles have nearly 80% more problems and are generally less reliable than cars propelled by conventional internal combustion engines, according to a new report from Consumer Reports.

And,Tyler Durden of the Zero Hedge blog offers this:

 A year after President Joe Biden's significant climate legislation pledged substantial funding for the U.S.'s transition to clean energy, the sector has seen a sharp $30 billion decline in the value of its stocks over the past six months.

Eighth, by now you have doubtless heard that Henry Kissinger, the master of RealPolitik, has died. It did not take too long-- the body was barely cold-- before leftist mini-minds were denouncing him as a war criminal, among other bad things that he did. 

They love human rights and are happy to incite wars over it. Thus, those who lack any sense of decorum have taken the occasion to slander Kissinger.

As a counterweight, read this explanation of RealPolitik by economic historian and Kissinger biographer Niall Ferguson, in the Daily Mail:

For it is not enough to say that a particular course of action in foreign policy had costs. The real question is whether its costs were higher or lower than the plausible alternatives available at the time. Those who argue that in January 1969 the United States should simply have cut and run, abandoning not only South Vietnam but also neighbouring Cambodia and Laos to the communist regime in North Vietnam, never bother to consider what the consequences of such an ignominious surrender might have been - and why that might explain why no Democratic presidential candidate in 1968 proposed it.

Ninth, also in the news, Warren Buffett’s right hand, by the name of Charlie Munger also died. 

Lawrence McDonald offers a reminiscence of the wit and wisdom of Munger:

Met Charlie Munger in Omaha in the years after Lehman - he said: 

"Larry, never, ever tell anyone about your problems, 90% of the people really don't care... The other 10% are glad you have them."

Tenth, a couple of days ago I wrote about the way that hearing bad grammar impacts your cardiac function. Now, from Richard Dawkins a comment on the subject:

When referring to someone as 'she', instead of their preferred pronoun "they" is deemed an act of violence, it's clear we're not speaking the same language. How can we engage in debate if our languages differ so fundamentally?

Forget about debate. How can we have conversations if we are not speaking the same language?

Eleventh, you might not have noticed it, but there is a mutiny going on. A number of Biden administration officials, especially  bureaucrats, strongly oppose the president’s policy on Israel. Not to put too fine a point on it, but they are Hamas sympathizers, or perhaps even anti-Semites. They belong to the Amy McFadden brigade, hard at work trying to undermine administration policy favoring Israel. 

As I have suggested in the past, I would not be surprised if they succeed.

The Daily Mail has the story. 

With 15,000 Gazans killed in seven weeks of bombardment, many inside the Biden administration feel that the White House should do more to rein-in Israel.

Only one person has publicly resigned due to the Gaza onslaught - Josh Paul, a director in the State Department's political-military affairs bureau, which oversees U.S. arms transfers.

But sources told NBC News that the internal unrest - including statements in open letters from government employees - exceeds anything felt in the last 40 years, including the Iraq War and Donald Trump's Muslim ban.

'It's remarkable and it's unprecedented,' said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank who worked at the State Department from 1978 to 2003.

'I've never seen anything like it.'

The anger has been expressed by hundreds of federal employees signing an open letter demanding the Biden administration push for a cease-fire, and dozens of diplomats at the State Department sending official dissent cables.

At the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), hundreds of employees signed a letter critical of the administration's approach, while hundreds of staff members in Congress have staged protests and signed letters demanding a cease-fire.

Twelfth, from Megan McArdle in the Washington Post, the latest from the diversity, equity, inclusion front. 

Hollywood is tiring of the charade and is firing its newly hired diversity officers. We will not even try to calculate the money that Hollywood has lost making woke movies, but it is substantial.

Last summer saw an exodus of executive women of color who had been leading diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at companies including Warner Bros., Disney and Netflix. As Variety noted, “When corporations tighten their money belts, DEI initiatives are often first on the chopping block.”

Thirteen, remember mask mandates. Remember how vaccines were going to prevent you from catching a respiratory virus and that masks were going to protect you, definitively.

Well, apparently, it was a hoax. Who knew? The Daily Mail has the story, based on British research:

There is no solid proof masks ever slowed the spread of Covid, England's former deputy chief medical officer said today.

Professor Dame Jenny Harries, who now heads up the UK Health Security Agency, said the evidence that coverings reduced transmission is 'uncertain' because it is difficult to separate their effect from other Covid curbs.

She also told the UK's Covid inquiry that government advice on how to make a mask using two pieces of cloth was 'ineffective'.

Studies showed at least three were needed for even a small effect on the spread of viruses, Dame Jenny said. 

Meanwhile, she warned advice for the public to wear masks during the pandemic may even have given people a 'false sense of security' that they could reduce their risk of becoming infected if they wore one while mixing with others.

Fourteenth, from the liberal Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, a story that I have previously reported:

Haaretz's Amos Harel reports that, behind the scenes, almost every Arab leader is urging Israel not to stop the war until Hamas is destroyed.

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