Time is money, and the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/department-of-government-efficiency-doge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Department of Government Efficiency</a> might have a low hanging fruit in its quest to save both.
DOGE, an outside advisory group led by Trump allies Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk, has expressed interest in abolishing Daylight Saving time in the United States as part of their broader crusade to cut government waste. Daylight Saving time (DST) is observed between the 2nd Sunday of March to the 1st Sunday of November – every year Americans move their clocks forward, then back, in an effort to maximize the number of waking daylight hours.
Advocates of DST have argued that it boosts economic efficiency by decreasing the need for artificial lighting and encouraging people to spend more time outdoors – however, a <a href="http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2021/ph240/segal2/">meta-analysis</a> of several dozen studies conducted by Stanford University in 2021 found that DST only reduced energy consumption by ~0.34%. A <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w14429/w14429.pdf">2008 study</a> by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that DST might actually increase energy consumption by as much as 1%.
Meanwhile, the arbitrary shift forward or backward by an hour complicates international travel and can cause scheduling errors for travelers or businesses who aren’t used to observing the change.
The economic costs of disrupting American’s sleep schedules by moving the clock forward an hour could also be quite high – one <a href="https://www.chmura.com/blog/2016/march/11/sleepbetter-lost-hour-economic-index">study</a> by Chmura Economics and Analytics linked the DST time change to a consistent increase in heart attacks, workplace injuries, and a drop in workplace productivity. The study estimated these side effects cost the American economy $434 million dollars every year.
Recently, Musk and Ramaswamy have both suggested that they would support getting rid of DST.
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“Looks like the people want to abolish the annoying time changes!” Musk said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in response to a user who requested the end of DST as a birthday present.
“It’s inefficient &amp; easy to change.” Ramaswamy responded.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
It’s inefficient &amp; easy to change.
&mdash; Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) <a href="https://twitter.com/VivekGRamaswamy/status/1861808163512627652?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2024</a></blockquote>
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DST is a relatively recent phenomenon in the United States – while the U.S. briefly observed it during both World Wars in an effort to save power, moving the clocks forward and backward by an hour wasn’t standardized until 1966. Hawaii and most parts of Arizona already do not observe DST, and there have been mounting efforts to stop the annual time change in recent years.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), another Trump ally whom the President-Elect nominated to become Secretary of State, sponsored a bill to stop the regular time changes (“The Sunshine Protection Act”) in 2018, 2021, and 2023. More than a dozen senators from both parties co-sponsored the most recent edition of the bill.
“This ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid,” Rubio <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/777356/daylight-saving-time-costs-us-almost-434-million-in-productivity-study/">said</a>. “Locking the clock has overwhelming bipartisan and popular support.”

Businesses Prepare For Earlier Daylight Savings Time

DOGE Considers Ending Daylight Saving Time

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Elon Musk

Executive

Marco Rubio

U.S.

Vivek Ramaswamy

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/israel">Israeli</a> Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the country’s War Cabinet on Monday, a  week after his longtime political rival, Benny Gantz, left the wartime unity government.
A spokesman for the prime minister <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-war-hamas-gaza-latest/?id=111174277">told</a> the press that there was &#8220;no more need for an extra branch of government.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
PM Netanyahu told the security cabinet last night that the war cabinet has been officially disbanded.
A PMO official tells me that since the war cabinet was part of Benny Gantz&#39;s demand to join the war coalition, it is no longer relevant since he left last week. &gt;&gt;
&mdash; Lazar Berman (@Lazar_Berman) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lazar_Berman/status/1802634532593524767?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 17, 2024</a></blockquote>
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The move comes more than 9 months after Hamas launched an invasion of Israeli territory on October 7th, which killed more than 1,200 people – mostly civilians. More than 240 more were taken hostage by terror group Hamas. More than 100 of those hostages have since been released or recovered, but according to the Israeli government as many as <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/hamas-hostages-israel-gaza-41432124">116</a> are still in Hamas’s custody – including some who are presumed dead. 
Gantz, a former IDF general who served as the country’s defense minister from 2020-2022, has been one of Netanyahu’s chief electoral opponents for the better part of a decade, but his party joined Netanyahu’s coalition in a display of national solidarity after the October 7th attack. 
However, he and his allies have clashed with other members of Netanyahu’s government on how to best prosecute the war in ongoing war in Gaza – disputes over hostage negotiations, a potential ceasefire, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-gantz-divide-c2bdd06ab06dfa59d3da12f13b8127a7">future of a post-war Gaza</a> and the influence of more <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/ben-gvir-slams-netanyahus-obscene-tradition-of-excluding-him-from-war-decisions/">hardline elements</a> of Netanyahu’s multi-party coalition had been lingering sources of tension months before the official split. He and Gadi Eisenkot, a former IDF Chief-of-Staff and a member of Gantz’s National Unity Party, left the cabinet on June 9.
Even after the defection of the National Unity Party, Netanyahu’s government retains a four-seat majority in the Knesset – the Israeli Parliament – although the loss of support limits his room to maneuver between the competing interests of his coalition which currently contains members from six parties. 
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-752039" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/ghetto_knesset_breakdown_720-300x154.png" alt="" width="300" height="154" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/ghetto_knesset_breakdown_720-300x154.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/ghetto_knesset_breakdown_720.png 720w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></div>
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Gantz is seen by many as the man most likely to replace Netanayhu as prime minister – although <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-polls-show-netanyahu-party-narrowing-gap-behind-gantz-2024-06-14/">recent polls</a> suggest that his party’s electoral edge is <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-first-time-in-a-year-poll-shows-netanyahu-preferred-to-gantz-as-prime-minister/">narrowing</a> – and even <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-03-03-2024-3193becf71b8e5a533d38be7973795e7">met with</a> top U.S. officials in March to discuss humanitarian efforts in Gaza and a potential end to the war. That visit was not authorized by the Israeli government and reportedly drew a harsh rebuke from Netanyahu, who, according to the Associated Press, told Gantz that Israel has “just one prime minister.”
The Israeli government has been under considerable pressure, both domestic and international, since the war began. Before the war began, Israel was sharply divided over <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/israel-passes-judicial-reform-in-face-of-mass-left-wing-protests">judicial reforms</a> championed by Netanyahu – support for his government <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israels-netanyahu-down-polls-over-judicial-reform-2023-07-26/#:~:text=Netanyahu%20won%20approval%20rating%20of,support%20for%20the%20legislation%20package.">declined considerably</a> and thousands of left-wing activists <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-edge-ahead-supreme-court-session-judicial-overhaul-2023-09-11/">took to the streets</a> of Israel to protest the decision throughout much of 2023. Those protests were essentially put on pause after the start of the war, but the dissolution of the war cabinet could signal an end to the political ceasefire and a renewal of mass anti-government demonstrations.
On Netanyahu’s right flank, elements of his coalition have argued that the current government has not been aggressive enough, and have castigated Israel’s humanitarian pauses and provision of aid to Gaza as “delusional.”
“The manner in which the humanitarian effort in the Gaza Strip is being managed, in the framework of which aid goes largely to Hamas and helps it to retain civilian control of the Strip in direct contradiction to the goals of the war, has been bad throughout the last few months,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/far-right-ministers-blast-delusional-daily-pauses-in-fighting-to-secure-gaza-aid/">said</a>. “This is one of the reasons for the continuation of the war.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who repeatedly clashed with Gantz and has long sought more influence over military matters, has already called for an escalation of the war effort in the north. 
Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy group that controls much of southern Lebanon and has been <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-06-06/hezbollah-and-israel-how-hamas-war-escalates-risk-of-wider-conflict">intermittently</a> firing missiles, and other artillery into northern Israel in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/iran-gives-hezbollah-green-light-to-launch-full-scale-attack-on-israel-report">support</a> of Gaza.
“Israel is in an unacceptable situation, in which a big part of the country has been deserted,” Brigadier. General Efraim Sneh told the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/17/israel-gaza-hamas-netanyahu-war-cabinet/">Washington Post</a>. “Israel’s forces are stretched thin between Gaza and the Lebanese border.”
“Hundreds of rockets cannot be answered with surgical actions,” Ben-Gvir <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/ben-gvir-slams-netanyahus-obscene-tradition-of-excluding-him-from-war-decisions/">said</a> last Wednesday, claiming that Netanyahi was “out of excuses” for avoiding all out war after Hezbollah fired 215 missiles into Israel. “You are the prime minister, and you cannot even hide behind Gantz and Eisenkot anymore.”
Smotrich and Ben-Gvir were part of the broader security cabinet but had been excluded from the higher level War Cabinet, to their consternation. Gantz was reportedly irritated by the influence they did have over policy and that was one of the major fissure points between him and Netanyahu. Going forward both men are likely to have more say in a smaller, more right-wing governing bloc.
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_752021" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-752021" class="size-medium wp-image-752021" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-17-at-3.59.40-PM-300x172.png" alt="" width="300" height="172" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-17-at-3.59.40-PM-300x172.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-17-at-3.59.40-PM-1002x576.png 1002w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-17-at-3.59.40-PM-768x441.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-17-at-3.59.40-PM-1536x883.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-17-at-3.59.40-PM.png 1844w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Photo by Gallup</div>
While a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/2024/03/21/majority-in-u-s-say-israel-has-valid-reasons-for-fighting-fewer-say-the-same-about-hamas/">majority of Americans</a> continue to support Israel, a <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/472070/democrats-sympathies-middle-east-shift-palestinians.aspx">growing number</a> of Democrats, particularly <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/12/08/views-of-the-israel-hamas-war-2/">younger</a> Democrats, are more sympathetic to the Palestinian side, with some college protesters openly lionizing Hamas and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/campus-anti-semites-plot-day-of-resistance-in-support-of-hamas">celebrating the death of Israeli civilians</a>. The war has become a major <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/07/magazine/israel-october-7-democrats.html">wedge issue</a> on the American Left and President Biden has attempted to walk a political tightrope of supporting Israel while simultaneously constraining their war effort. 
Biden has openly voiced opposition to Israeli operations in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than a million refugees have fled since the war began, and Hamas’ last major stronghold. In March the president threatened to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-slams-biden-for-threatening-to-withhold-military-aid-to-israel-taking-the-side-of-these-terrorists">withhold military aid</a> to Israel and he has continually pressured them to negotiate a ceasefire with Hamas’ leadership, even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/01/biden-gaza-ceasefire-deal-lack-of-influence-netanyahu">prematurely</a> announcing a deal.
Other countries and international organizations have been even less supportive – last month Spain, Ireland and Norway officially recognized the existence of a Palestinian state, while the International Criminal Court (which has no jurisdiction in Israel or the United States) issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“I hope [Ireland&#8217;s recognition of their state] sends the Palestinian people a message of hope that — in this their darkest hour — Ireland stands with them,” Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris <a href="https://apnews.com/article/eu-palestinian-state-spain-israel-gaza-6efe351e53761befc2c539c535bbcc0c">said</a> to members of Ireland’s parliament. “It is no longer enough just to condemn. It is no longer enough just to be repulsed. We must be on the right side of history.”
These decisions came shortly after the United Nations reduced its estimate of civilian casualties by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shifting-un-casualty-numbers-raise-questions-can-any-reports-from-gaza-be-trusted">nearly 50%</a>. Previous data had been collected by the Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas and was accused of grossly inflating the death toll. By most historical standards, the civilian:combatant death ratio in Gaza is <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/apr/18/israels-war-against-hamas-posts-lower-civilian-to-/">unusually low</a> (between 2:1 and 1:1) despite the fact that Hamas <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-biden-official-hamas-using-human-shields-u-s-does-not-trust-casualty-numbers-from-gaza">deliberately hides its forces behind civilians</a>.
On Monday the Israeli military told <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-war-hamas-gaza-latest/?id=111174277">ABC</a> that they currently control about 60% of Rafah, and that the main portion of their military operation there should wrap up within “a few weeks.”
“We are there to dismantle the military framework of the [Hamas&#8217;] Rafah Brigade,&#8221;  Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for the IDF, told the outlet. &#8220;We are weeks now just from achieving this goal.&#8221;

ISRAEL-US-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY

Netanyahu Dissolves Israeli War Cabinet

Benjamin Netanyahu

Benny Gantz

Gaza

Hamas

Israel

In the throes of the 2024 presidential election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, social media giant <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/meta">Meta</a>, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, has taken steps to suppress political content on its platforms.
The new feature rolled out <a href="https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/continuing-our-approach-to-political-content-on-instagram-and-threads">earlier this year</a> prevents any content flagged as “political” from being recommended to users on Instagram.  Posts “about laws, elections, or social topics” will not be displayed in any of the platform’s curated recommendation systems, which drives a significant amount of follower growth for platforms. 
The company claims the filter is not meant to limit the exposure of any candidate or publisher specifically, and is instead meant to insulate users from politically charged content in general. &#8220;Our goal is to preserve the ability for people to choose to interact with political content, while respecting each person&#8217;s appetite for it,&#8221; Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/03/26/1240737627/meta-limit-political-content-instagram-facebook-opt-out">said</a>.
According to<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/social-media-and-news-fact-sheet/"> Pew Research</a>, half of all American adults got their news from social media – last year 30% of all American adults consumed news on Facebook at least “sometimes” and 16% got their news from Instagram. 
The filter was automatically implemented for all accounts by default, and has to be manually disabled by each user.
In order to disable the filter, you’ll need to go to your profile page and tap the icon on the uppermost right to open &#8220;Settings and Activity.&#8221; From there, you’ll need to scroll down to the &#8220;what you see&#8221; section, where you&#8217;ll find &#8220;content preferences.&#8221; Click &#8220;political content,&#8221; and then you’ll need to select the “don’t limit political content from people you don’t follow” option.
<div id="attachment_733681" style="width: 1090px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-733681" class="wp-image-733681 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/05/434679726_1453416518942209_18864608352948153_n.webp" alt="" width="1080" height="1080" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/05/434679726_1453416518942209_18864608352948153_n.webp 1080w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/05/434679726_1453416518942209_18864608352948153_n-300x300.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/05/434679726_1453416518942209_18864608352948153_n-576x576.webp 576w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/05/434679726_1453416518942209_18864608352948153_n-150x150.webp 150w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/05/434679726_1453416518942209_18864608352948153_n-768x768.webp 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px" />Photo by about.instagram.com</div>
As of now the feature does not appear to have been implemented on Facebook, which is still the most popular platform for online news. The Daily Wire has historically been one of the <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/news/the-daily-wire-top-publisher-on-facebook-in-first-quarter-of-2022-3-of-top-5-are-right-leaning/">top publishers on the platform</a> – last year it was revealed that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-pressured-fb-to-suppress-daily-wire-content-push-users-to-legacy-outlets-newly-released-docs">officials from the Biden administration pressured Meta to redirect traffic away from right-leaning </a>outlets, and specifically singled out The Daily Wire as a site they wanted to censor.
The policy has been criticized as overly broad – the filter is applied to all accounts by default and has to manually be disabled. Meta has also been criticized for limiting voter access to information about candidates and causes during an election year.
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X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has taken a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/brazilian-supreme-court-takes-on-elon-musk-and-x-in-social-media-crackdown">strong anti-censorship stance</a> since it was purchased by Elon Musk in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-elon-musk-officially-takes-over-twitter-as-sale-is-now-final-top-execs-fired-report-says">2022</a>, and it is the fifth most popular platform for consuming news among the social media giants, after Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, and controversial Chinese-owned TikTok, which is set to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-divestment-ban-what-you-need-to-know-5e1ff786e89da10a1b799241ae025406">be banned in the United States</a> early next year if parent company ByteDance doesn&#8217;t sell it.
<div class="mceTemp"></div>

In this photo illustration the Instagram logo seen displayed

Big Tech Is Filtering The Politics Out Of Your Social Feed. Here’s How To Stop Them.

Big Tech

Facebook

Instagram

Social Media Bias

Islamist extremists reportedly set fire to several Christian houses and businesses in southern <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/egypt">Egypt</a> last week.
The violence broke out on Tuesday night in the village of Al-Fawakher, which is home to about 3,000 Christian families. The local Christian community had recently received a permit to construct a new church building, prompting backlash from some Muslim hardliners.
&#8220;The attacks are believed to have been triggered by an attempt to build a new church in Al-Fawakher village in Minya [province],” one local source, who asked to remain anonymous, told <a href="https://www.newarab.com/news/extremists-set-fire-christian-homes-southern-egypt">The New Arab</a>. &#8220;When religious fanatics failed to expel Christians from their homes as a form of punishment, the extremists [reportedly] burned down their houses while they were still inside.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Please share this as much as possible
Islamists are now burning and destroying Coptic homes of the village of Al-Fawakher in Minya. 
They are posting videos of what they are doing with celebrating music as they carry out the attacks and BRAGGING about it online <a href="https://t.co/ORSmLzXO4D">pic.twitter.com/ORSmLzXO4D</a>
&mdash; Ⲡⲁⲥⲟⲛ ⲛ̀Ⲕⲩⲡⲧⲓⲟⲥ (@miaphysenjoyer) <a href="https://twitter.com/miaphysenjoyer/status/1782918111186112583?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a href="https://twitter.com/miaphysenjoyer/status/1782918111186112583">Video</a> circulating on social media appears to show crowds of people dancing and celebrating in front of the burning buildings.
“The extremists attacked Coptic homes with stones and chants, and a number of homes were set on fire, amid the screams of women and children,” Copts United, a religious advocacy group, <a href="https://www.copts-united.com/Article.php?I=5527&amp;A=787677&amp;fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0XCpeBCCPp68E_H1NpM_vAqqgepa462QqKczW5c-uaAa1aAN8vR_KIkwo_aem_AeJkLRz1Yy1feBpmf62DwGP4svUX1gZxl1rPRjQyJ7LaRCcTmpsoqzrn3eMqIlcRXPGooSp5CYumciq2iDYrWZbS">reported</a>. “The attack continued for a long time before the security forces arrived.”
“Security forces arrived and brought the situation under control, arresting the instigators and perpetrators,” Coptic Bishop Anba Macarius said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/AnbaMacarius/status/1782931537081557325">public statement</a> on Wednesday: “State agencies will compensate those affected and hold the perpetrators accountable.Calm prevails in the village now. May God protect our dear country, Egypt, from all harm.”
Christians have long been a persecuted minority in Egypt. Conversion from Islam to Christianity is illegal and Christians are barred from holding certain public offices, and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/5/26/coptic-christians-killed-in-minya-bus-attack">terror </a> <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/8/palm-sunday-church-attacks-egypts-worst-day-of-violence">attacks</a>  <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/08/21/egypt-mass-attacks-churches">against</a>  <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-8-2016-009642_EN.html">churches </a> <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20220814-fire-during-mass-at-cairo-coptic-church-kills-more-than-40-say-church-officials">and</a>  <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/11/middleeast/cairo-police-foil-coptic-church-suicide-attack/index.html">religious </a> <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/15/world/meast/egypt-church-attacks/index.html">minorities</a>  <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/explosion-at-cairo-church-kills-at-least-20-injures-35-officials-say/2016/12/11/fa01d7c2-7f2e-4a94-8612-fd6d5c7f4901_story.html">are</a>  <a href="https://www.newarab.com/news/egyptian-coptic-couple-murdered-their-beds-christmas-eve">fairly</a>  <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/coptic-christians-killed-bus-attack-egypt/story?id=58924168#:~:text=At%20least%20seven%20people%20on,said%2010%20people%20were%20killed.">common</a>. Minya province in particular has been a hotbed of violence, with at least <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/opinion/egypts-cruelty-to-christians.html">77 incidents</a> recorded between 2011-2016, according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
According to Copts United, a <a href="https://www.christiandaily.com/news/coptic-christians-are-attacked-in-two-villages-in-egypt.html">similar attack</a> took place on Friday in the village of Al-Kom Al-Ahmar, after a local Evangelical group was given permission to build a church there.
Bishop Macarius himself <a href="https://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/09/30/minya-bishop-escapes-assassination-attempt/">survived an assassination attempt</a> in 2013.
The exact number of Christians within the country is contested, and the officially Islamic Egyptian government has been accused of trying to downplay the size of its Christian minority – <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2011/02/16/how-many-christians-are-there-in-egypt/">estimates</a> range anywhere from 5-15% of the country’s 111 million people, although it is generally agreed that the share is shrinking – likely as a result of conversion, migration, or lower fertility rates compared to Egypt&#8217;s Muslim majority.
The majority of Egypt&#8217;s Christians belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church, which claims descent from the Patriarchate of Alexandria, one of the 5 major centers of early Christianity, alongside Rome, Constantinople, Antioch and Jerusalem. The Coptic Church broke away from what would become the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches in 451 AD after the Council of Chalcedon, over theological differences, and remained the dominant religion in Egypt until the country was conquered in 641 by Muhammed’s immediate successors in the Rashidun (“rightly guided”) Caliphate.
Egypt is also home to hundreds of thousands of Eastern Orthodox Christians, Protestants and Catholics.
“An unacceptable culture of intimidation and discrimination is still far too prevalent in this region despite positive steps taken by the Egyptian authorities in recent years, and the personal commitment of President Sisi to fight sectarian extremism and promote equality of citizenship,” Christian Solidarity Worldwide President Mervyn Thomas said in a <a href="https://www.christiandaily.com/news/coptic-christians-are-attacked-in-two-villages-in-egypt.html">press statement</a>. “Egyptian citizens should all be free to practice any religion or belief of their choosing without fear of threats or physical violence.”

Two towered church standing in the middle of the farms of a village in Egypt

Islamist Extremists Attack & Burn Christian Homes In Egypt

Christian

Egypt

Islam

Islamists

After more than a year of negotiations, Sweden is set to become the 32nd member of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nato">NATO</a>.
The Nordic country broke with nearly 2 centuries of neutrality in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and formally applied for NATO membership in May of that year, alongside neighboring Finland, which also abandoned its longstanding policy of neutrality to join the alliance.
Joining NATO requires the unanimous consent of all current members – while most NATO nations were quick to approve the applications, Finland and Sweden both faced opposition from Hungary and Turkey. Pressure from the rest of the alliance and various concessions appear to have put those objections to rest. Finland formally joined NATO in April 2023. Turkey approved Sweden’s membership bid last month and on Monday the Hungarian parliament also approved it.
“The parliaments of all NATO member states have now voted in favor of Swedish accession to NATO.” Swedish Prime Minister <a href="https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&amp;sca_esv=59bcec2abd4eef4d&amp;sca_upv=1&amp;rls=en&amp;q=Ulf+Kristersson&amp;stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgVuLUz9U3sDQ0sDR_xGjCLfDyxz1hKe1Ja05eY1Tl4grOyC93zSvJLKkUEudig7J4pbi5ELp4FrHyh-akKXgXZRaXpBYVF-fnAQD7xV2vVgAAAA&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwio6LbOjsqEAxVB_skDHZbBCKQQzIcDKAB6BAgeEAE">Ulf Kristersson</a> <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/sweden-to-join-nato/#:~:text=BUDAPEST%20%E2%80%94%20At%20last%2C%20Sweden%20will,vote%20to%20approve%20the%20move.">said</a>. “Sweden stands ready to shoulder its responsibility for Euro-Atlantic security.”
Sweden is expected to officially join the organization in a ceremony sometime this week, after all the necessary paperwork has been finalized.
Turkey previously accused the two Scandinavian nations of being soft on Kurdish militants, who have been in conflict with Turkey’s government for decades. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appears to have backed down in exchange for increased weapons sales to his country – including the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-says-move-forward-with-transfer-f-16-jets-turkey-2023-07-11/">transfer</a> of American made F-16 fighter jets.
Hungary’s objections appear to have been a response to past Swedish criticism of the Hungarian government under Viktor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Orb%C3%A1n">Orbán</a>. Hungary’s shift in policy also coincides with an arms deal – Hungary <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/hungary-sign-defence-industry-deal-with-sweden-pm-orban-says-2024-02-23/">purchased</a> four Swedish fighter jets days before ratifying its NATO bid.
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_702025" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-702025" class="size-medium wp-image-702025" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/Major_NATO_affiliations_in_Europe.svg_-300x230.png" alt="" width="300" height="230" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/Major_NATO_affiliations_in_Europe.svg_-300x230.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/Major_NATO_affiliations_in_Europe.svg_.png 330w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Wikimedia Commons</div>
The expansion of NATO has been a major point of contention with Russia – one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stated reasons for invading Ukraine was to prevent the country from joining the Western military bloc and moving its forces to the Russian border. Finland, which, like Ukraine, was also once part of the Russian Empire, has an 830 mile long land border with Russia, and with the accession of Sweden and Finland the alliance will almost totally encircle the Baltic Sea, where the Russian port of St. Petersburg strategic exclave of Kaliningrad are located.
While Russia hasn’t taken direct military action against either nation, relations have cooled considerably between it and the formally neutral nations. Last year the Russian ambassador to Sweden said the country had become a “legitimate target for Russian retaliatory measures” and Finland closed its border with Russia.
&#8220;When it comes to Russia, the only thing we can expect is that they will not like that Sweden is becoming a NATO member,&#8221; Kristersson <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/hungary-set-ratify-swedens-nato-accession-clearing-last-hurdle-2024-02-26/">said</a>. &#8220;What they do in addition to that, we cannot know. We are prepared for all sorts of things.&#8221;

Hungarian parliament approves Sweden’s NATO bid, last member of alliance that had not given green light

Sweden Set To Officially Join NATO

Europe

NATO

Sweden

Ukraine-Russia War

Indian commandos recaptured a hijacked cargo ship off the coast of Somalia last week, rescuing 21 crew members.
The Liberian flagged MV Lila Norfolk was sailing 450 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia when it was boarded last Thursday by <a href="https://news.usni.org/2024/01/07/indian-navy-retakes-merchant-ship-from-armed-hijackers-in-the-arabian-sea">about a half dozen hijackers</a>. The vessel had a multinational crew of 15 Indians and 6 Fillipinos, who sheltered in the ship’s safe room and reportedly sustained no injuries. The Indian Navy’s Marine Commandos (sometimes called MARCOS) retook the vessel the following morning – the hijackers appear to have fled during the night, after the Indian Navy arrived.
&#8220;The decisive thwarting of this attempted hijack is a stellar demonstration of mission deployed efforts [by the Indian Navy] to ensure the security of our oceans and seafarers.&#8221; Shambhu Kumaran, India&#8217;s envoy to the Philippines, wrote on <a href="https://twitter.com/shambhukumaran/status/1743576241641545810">X</a>, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Somalia has historically been an epicenter of piracy, although <a href="https://mc.nato.int/missions/operation-ocean-shield">anti-piracy missions</a> by the U.S. and other naval powers have led to a <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2018/01/16/what-is-happening-to-africas-pirates">steep decline</a> in the number of incidents since the early 2010s. 
However, Iranian backed Houthi militants from Yemen have been menacing international shopping from the other side of the Gulf of Aden, in support of Hamas and their ongoing war against Israel. There also appears to be a local spike in Somali piracy – another commercial ship, the MV Reun, was <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12868181/Commercial-ship-hijacked-pirates-heading-Somalia-Crew-no-longer-control-Spanish-warship-heads-intercept.html">hijacked</a> last December in the first major Somali attack since 2019.
<div id="attachment_677563" style="width: 451px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-677563" class="wp-image-677563 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Un-horn-of-africa-441x576.png" alt="" width="441" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Un-horn-of-africa-441x576.png 441w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Un-horn-of-africa-230x300.png 230w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Un-horn-of-africa-768x1004.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Un-horn-of-africa-1175x1536.png 1175w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Un-horn-of-africa-1567x2048.png 1567w" sizes="(max-width: 441px) 100vw, 441px" />(Horn of Africa by Wikimedia Commons)</div>
Nearly <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/01/03/a-joint-statement-from-the-governments-of-the-united-states-australia-bahrain-belgium-canada-denmark-germany-italy-japan-netherlands-new-zealand-and-the-united-kingdom/">15%</a> of global maritime trade passes through the Red Sea, and attacks have already sent economic shockwaves across the world in the form of higher shipping costs and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/03/red-sea-crisis-shipping-costs-delays-inflation.html">supply chain delays</a> that could ripple throughout the system for months.
The international community has condemned the Houthi strikes and several major powers have deployed elements of their navies to escort civilian ships and protect shipping lanes. While the U.S. has taken a prominent role, India has also deployed at least 5 of its own destroyers to the region.
India is highly dependent on international trade – last year they imported <a href="https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/high-dependence-on-imports-hurting-indias-economy">86%</a> of their crude oil – and would be heavily impacted by any interruption of that trade. Vessels crewed by Indian nationals and bound for Indian ports have been <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/oil-tanker-hit-near-indian-coast-amid-maritime-hostilities-against-israel-by-houthis/">struck by missiles</a> since the crisis began.
India has also poured <a href="https://news.usni.org/2022/07/20/indian-navy-expanding-to-meet-china-threat-better-team-with-allies">considerable resources</a> into growing and modernizing their navy, largely in response to China’s military build up. India and China are close trading partners and regional rivals with a fraught relation – India has increasingly aligned itself with the United States via military alliances such as &#8220;The Quad&#8221; (a &#8220;joint dialogue&#8221; between the US, Japan, Australia and India). Sending its assets into the Red Sea could be an opportunity to flex its military muscle in addition to protecting its maritime interests.
“As a rising great power in its own right, India maintains its desire to play a larger and more proactive role as a responsible security and development partner and provider, not only in the Indian Ocean Region but also the greater Indo-Pacific region,” Geopolitical Analyst Don McLain Gill told <a href="https://news.usni.org/2024/01/07/indian-navy-retakes-merchant-ship-from-armed-hijackers-in-the-arabian-sea">USNI News</a>.

Aerial view container ship full load container delivering on the blue sea for logistics, import export, shipping or transportation.

Indian Navy Retakes Ship From Hijackers

Houthis

India

Pirates

Somalia

In a lecture at Clemson University, Daily Wire Host <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/michael-knowles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Knowles</a> argued that IVF and surrogacy are rife with moral hazards and have effectively transformed human children into “commodities to be bought and sold.”
Knowles began the lecture by noting that the issue in some ways is a natural outgrowth of gender ideology – the practice of homosexual couples artificially conceiving a child via in vitro fertilization, and, in the case of gay men, hiring a surrogate mother to carry the child to term, has become increasingly common in recent years.
“If men and women really aren’t different, then moms and dads really aren’t different,” Knowles notes. “And if moms and dads really aren’t different, then why would anyone need, or even want, to have both of them? What’s the difference between a family and a couple of fellas if that premise is true?”
Knowles argued that children need both of their biological parents, that the bond between mother and child is unique and profound and that separating a child from their mother is inconceivably cruel. Knowles laments that while it had once been a rare tragedy for infants to lose their mothers, it is now standard practice for a growing industry.
However, Knowles argues that gender ideology is the sole cause of this situation, which he argues is most fundamentally the outgrowth of a culture where children are perceived as things that can be owned, bought, and sold rather than as people in their own right.
“I do not primarily blame the homosexuals of either sex for this awful situation.” Knowles said. “They are simply following a 60-year series of delusions that our culture and politics have promoted to their logical conclusion.&#8221;
Knowles argues that the “primary culprit” behind this phenomenon is capitalism,“more precisely… capitalism, unconstrained by morality, and more precisely still, the commodification of children… Capitalism, circumscribed by morality, is as fine a method for producing morality as has ever been discovered. Capitalism, unconstrained by morality, is a monstrosity.”
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Beyond the issue, Knowles also raised objections to the treatment of many fertilized embryos &#8212; some are aborted in cases where more embryos successfully implant than the customer anticipated, while other &#8220;extra&#8221; embryos are frozen indefinitely or unceremoniously disposed of, which Knowles contends is callous disregard for human life.
Knowles notes that many people are alive today because of IVF and that it is understandable that they and their families would be reflexively supportive of the technology, but he says that noble ends do not necessarily justify means. Knowles agrees that a human life is good and has intrinsic value no matter how that life came into existence. However, he argues that while a child conceived by rape has all the same rights and dignity as a child conceived in a loving marriage, that in no way justifies rape.
Knowles argues that children should be understood as a “blessing,” and not a “thing” people are entitled to have or buy, and that while no adult has an inherent right to have a child, children have a right to the love and support of their biological parents.

yaf_michaelknowles_georgetown_sep2023_mf_davidkeithphotography_65_720

Kids Are Not Commodities: Knowles At Clemson

Children

family

Michael Knowles

Social Issues

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/united-kingdom" target="_blank" rel="noopener">British museum</a> has decided that an infamous Roman emperor was transgender, and will refer to him using female pronouns in the name of sensitivity.
The North Hertfordshire Museum told the Telegraph that going forward, it will refer to Elagabalus, who ruled the Roman empire from 218-222 AD, as a woman, based on the work of contemporary historian Cassius Dio, who said that Elagabalus was “termed wife, mistress and queen.”
 “Call me not Lord, for I am a Lady.” Elagabalus supposedly <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/cassius_dio/80*.html">told</a> a male lover.
“We know that Elagabalus identified as a woman and was explicit about which pronouns to use, which shows that pronouns are not a new thing,” <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/11/21/news/uk-museum-says-roman-emperor-was-a-trans-woman/?utm_campaign=nypost&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social">said</a> Keith Hoskins, executive member for Enterprise and Arts at North Herts Council. “We try to be sensitive to identifying pronouns for people in the past, as we are for people in the present.”
However, later historians have debated how seriously some of these descriptions should be taken. Rome was an unapologetically patriarchal society and lacked the modern conceptions of “gender” as something independent of biological sex. While some “gender fluid” characters existed in myth, such as Hermaphroditus, from whom we get the term “hermaphrodite,” and the blind prophet Tiresius, who was transformed into a woman for seven years as a divine punishment, after which he was transformed back into a man, such ambiguity wasn’t transferred over to flesh and blood people.
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Allegations of sexual impropriety or effeminate behavior were stock insults in the Roman political lexicon. Surviving histories of the era are often fragmentary and biased, with some unpopular emperors being exclusively remembered by the descriptions of their enemies.
&#8220;There are many examples in Roman literature of times where effeminate language and words were used as a way of criticising or weakening a political figure,” Dr Shushma Malik, a classics professor at Cambridge University, told the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-67484645">BBC</a>. &#8220;References to Elagabalus wearing makeup, wigs and removing body hair may have been written in order to undermine the unpopular emperor.&#8221;
Elagabalus, who is widely considered to be one of the worst emperors Rome ever had, ascended to the throne at the age of 14 at the end of a bloody civil war, and was himself assassinated four years later to be replaced by his younger cousin, Alexander Severus. Aside from his reported sexual exploits (Dio tells us that he was “married” at various points to four women and one man and had many extramarital affairs), Elagabalus is also remembered for his promotion of the Syrian sun-god of the same name and his unpopular religious reforms, which were rescinded after his death.
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Cassius Dio lived through Elagabalus’ reign and was a close political ally of his replacement. While he is still respected as a valuable ancient source, Dio has often been regarded as less reliable than other Roman historians and his descriptions of the late Emperor were far from neutral.
“[Elagabulus] both married and was bestowed in marriage; for he appeared both as man and as woman, and in both relations conducted himself in the most licentious fashion,” Dio <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/cassius_dio/80*.html">wrote</a>.
In the same account, Dio repeatedly refers to Elagabalus as a pretender to the throne (“the False Antoninus”), and accuses him, among other things, of defiling a virgin priestess, dressing and acting like a female prostitute, planning to “cut off his [own] genitals” seeking out a primitive vaginoplasty, and says that “He ought to have been scourged in the Forum, thrown into prison, and then put to death.”
That being said, the <a href="https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/kim-jonguns-vile-pleasure-squad-where-virgin-schoolgirls-are-selected-to-entertain-north-korean-rulers/news-story/62559264441661586a826f20865eca4e">well</a> documented <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2474533/The-terrible-truth-Gaddafis-harem.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sexual</a> behavior of some <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/ex-gambian-dictator-yahya-jammeh-handpicked-women-for-rape-2059736" target="_blank" rel="noopener">modern</a> dictators often mirrors ancient allegations of impropriety, which has led some historians to re-evaluate claims that had previously been dismissed as &#8220;fantastical.&#8221;
The claims made about Elagabalus in the historical record stand out as particularly extreme, even when compared to other Roman invective, which has led some historians to believe that he may have genuinely suffered from gender dysphoria, although others remain skeptical.

Rome

Woke Museum Claims Notorious Roman Emperor Was Transgender, Will Use Female Pronouns

Academia

General

History

LGBTQ

Woke Culture

Wokeness

World

Senior officials from the United States and its allies have begun discussing possible terms for an end to hostilities <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ukraine-russia-war" target="_blank" rel="noopener">between Russia and Ukraine</a>, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/us-european-officials-broach-topic-peace-negotiations-ukraine-sources-rcna123628" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a report</a> from NBC News.
According to the report, possible outlines for a peace deal were discussed last month during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, an organization of more than 50 nations who have provided military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in February 2022. Officials were reportedly concerned about a perceived &#8220;stalemate&#8221; and a lack of public support for a drawn out war.
Since Russia launched its invasion, Ukraine has received nearly <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/05/world/ukraine-money-military-aid-intl-dg/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$350 billion in foreign aid</a>, including $113 billion from the U.S., which has been crucial to its continued war effort. 
But, according to <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/513680/american-views-ukraine-war-charts.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gallup</a>, support for more aid has been steadily declining for over a year. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/plurality-of-americans-say-u-s-is-doing-too-much-for-ukraine-new-gallup-poll-finds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A plurality of Americans</a>, 41%, believe the U.S. is too involved in the war in Ukraine, including 62% of Republicans and 44% of independents. While only 14% of Democrats say the same, more than 60% of Democrats, Republicans and independents believe that neither side is winning the war.
That opinion was echoed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Army, Valery Zaluzhny. 
“Just like in the First World War we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,” Zaluzhny told <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2023/11/01/ukraines-commander-in-chief-on-the-breakthrough-he-needs-to-beat-russia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Economist</a>. “There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough.”
That assessment came months after Ukraine began its long vaunted counteroffensive in June, which has resulted in limited territorial gains but come nowhere near punching through the Russian line, which has disappointed many of Ukraine’s allies.
Zaluzhny said that he had underestimated Russia’s willingness to take heavy casualties in order to hold their positions – the general claimed that 150,000 Russians have been killed since the invasion began.
The fog of war makes verifying exact casualty numbers difficult, but by August 2023, U.S. officials estimated that 120,000 Russians have been killed. Various European journalists have tracked <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-dead-ukraine-war-open-sources/32627135.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">at least 34,000 public obituaries</a> of Russian servicemen killed in Ukraine, although they estimate that the true death toll is much higher. Russia itself has not disclosed casualty numbers, but since the war began, it has <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/from-prison-to-the-frontlines-thousands-of-russian-convicts-sent-to-fight-in-ukraine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recruited extensively from its prison system</a> and mobilized <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/26/russia-conscription-maximum-age-raised-ukraine-war" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hundreds of thousands of new conscripts</a>, in some instances with <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/russia-troops-complain-lack-training-putin-ukraine-1786014" target="_blank" rel="noopener">little to no training</a>.
&#8220;We are in a hopeless situation, as we are considered expendable, and the command is indifferent to our lives,&#8221; one unnamed Russian draftee <a href="https://t.me/astrapress/22305" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a Telegram post.
Despite these losses, and widespread morale issues culminating in a mutiny by the infamous Wagner Group earlier this year, Russia seems to have held the line, and General Zaluzhny expressed concern that Russia, which has more than three times as many people as Ukraine, would have an advantage in a war of attrition. The general argued that Ukraine needed new advanced military systems to break the deadlock, and while aid from the U.S. and other countries allowed them to fight Russia on an even footing, it wasn’t enough to give them an edge.
“They are not obliged to give us anything, and we are grateful for what we have got,” Zaluzhny  said. “I am simply stating the facts.”
American, Ukrainian and other European officials have also worried that the outbreak of violence in Israel after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-hamas-official-were-ready-to-repeat-october-7-attack-again-and-again-until-israel-annihilated" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the brutal October 7</a> terror attacks last month will divert attention and resources away from Ukraine. The Biden administration and Democrats on Capitol Hill have pushed for a joint multi-billion dollar aid package to Israel and Ukraine, but the Republican controlled House <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/12-house-dems-ignore-biden-veto-threat-help-pass-israel-aid-with-irs-cuts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed a standalone bill</a> to support Israel while leaving aid to Ukraine on the negotiating table, possibly as part of a deal for increased border security.
President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer(D-NY) have said that proposal is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/schumer-announces-senate-wont-even-consider-house-gop-israel-aid-proposal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dead on arrival</a>, but allies of Ukraine are worried that the debate itself shows unqualified support for Ukraine is becoming unsustainable. The U.S. still has about $5 billion of outstanding allocated aid waiting to be sent to Ukraine, as the result of an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pentagon-accounting-error-gives-extra-6-2-billion-in-aid-to-ukraine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accounting error</a> by the Pentagon, but once that runs out further funds would have to be approved by the divided Congress.
The details of any hypothetical peace deal are indeterminate, but would almost certainly involve Ukraine ceding occupied territory to Russia, possibly in exchange for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nato" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NATO</a> membership or other security guarantees from the West. American and European officials have reportedly begun working out an informal timeline to begin negotiations, with some saying that Ukraine has until the end of the year at most before they have to come to the table.
One official told NBC that while the Biden administration has discussed a peace summit framework with Ukraine, the White House “is not aware of any other conversations with Ukraine about negotiations at the moment.”
“Any decisions about negotiations are up to Ukraine,” Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the National Security Council, said in a statement. “We are focused on continuing to stand strongly in support of Ukraine as they defend their freedom and independence against Russian aggression.”

Joe Biden/Volodymyr Zelensky

Report: U.S. And European Officials Float Peace Terms For Ukraine

Conflicts

Russia

Ukraine

Daily Wire Host <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/author/michael-j-knowles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Knowles</a> appeared at Georgetown University in the opening lecture of a new college tour sponsored by YAF on Tuesday night.
During his lecture, Knowles posed the question: “Is Biden More Evil Than Putin Or Xi?”
Knowles drew parallels between the state-controlled media in Russia and China and the Biden administration’s unprecedented censorship of Americans, such as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/collections/the-hunter-biden-files" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the throttling of the Hunter Biden laptop story</a>, which was falsely flagged as likely disinformation by senior intelligence officials sympathetic to the Democratic Party.
Knowles also highlighted the atrocities committed by the Chinese government against the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang, which has been described as a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/china-committed-genocide-against-uyghur-muslims-independent-british-tribunal-finds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">genocide</a>, and includes forced sterilization and abortions. While decrying those actions as morally indefensible, Knowles noted that Biden and the Democratic Party have tirelessly promoted abortion in the United States – roughly <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/01/11/what-the-data-says-about-abortion-in-the-u-s-2/">1 million</a> abortions take place in the U.S. each year. 
The Biden administration has also championed experimental procedures for trans-identifying children, including exposure to cross-sex hormones and various body modification surgeries. Knowles argued that minors and their parents can’t truly consent to the lifetime of sterility early medical intervention causes in gender-confused children – children are too young, parents are often cajoled with threats that their child will commit suicide if they don’t &#8220;support their transition,&#8221; and the desire to remove healthy tissue and artificially modify the body in and of itself calls the mental competence of the patient to make medical decisions into question.
While Knowles argues that the United States is unquestionably a better country than China or Russia, the moral stature of its leadership rests on far shakier ground.
Despite that assessment, and recent polling that suggests Biden is historically unpopular and highly vulnerable politically, Knowles does not believe that the president is going to be removed from the Democratic ticket.
“I know this is countercultural now,” Knowles said, “But I would still put a little bit of money on Biden being on the ticket.&#8221;
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Knowles said that despite widespread, and, in his view, well-founded, concerns about the president’s age and mental acuity, Biden is still the de facto leader of the Democratic Party. Because he has no clear successor, removing him at this stage of the race would result in chaotic infighting.
“It would be an admission that things aren’t going well,” Knowles said. &#8220;For Joe Biden not to run for re-election would be an admission that the lights are on, but nobody’s home – and we all know that, but thus far, the Democrats have kept a fairly united front in saying that he’s really running the show.”
Knowles also noted that Joe Biden “has wanted to be president since he was in the womb” and is unlikely to give up his position without a fight.
Knowles argued that the polls were still worth watching, since they demonstrated that Trump could credibly oust Biden in 2024 – Republican critics of Trump have often argued that he’s polarizing and unelectable, citing his narrow defeat in 2020.
“I think the whole talking point is kind of silly,” Knowles said. “We know that Trump can win a general [election], he already did it … he’s won at least one.”

Knowles Talks Tyrants And 2024 At Georgetown

2024 Election

2024 Primaries

Abortion

China

Georgetown University

Transgender

Flash flooding in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/libya">Libya</a> has killed thousands of people and left at least 10,000 unaccounted for. As of Tuesday, emergency services on the ground say that at least 2,300 people have <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66785466" target="_blank" rel="noopener">died</a>, and that number is expected to rise.
The flooding was caused by heavy rain brought on by Cyclone Daniel, which has proven to be the deadliest Mediterranean storm on record. Daniel battered much of the eastern Mediterranean for roughly a week and killed several dozen people across Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey before dissipating over Egypt on Tuesday. 
However, northeastern Libya has taken the brunt of the damage, particularly the coastal city of Derna, home to about 90,000 people. Libyan officials report that the area received nearly 16 inches of rainfall on Sunday and Monday – in a typical year the city gets less than 11. 
The storm caused two dams south of the city to collapse, resulting in an overflow of the Wadi Derna river and 10 foot high floodwaters, according to <a href="https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2023/sep/11/storm-daniel-unleashes-deadly-flooding-in-eastern-/">eyewitnesses</a>.
“The damages are very serious,” Issam Abu Zureibah, the interior minister for the Tobruk government in eastern Libya, <a href="https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2023/sep/11/storm-daniel-unleashes-deadly-flooding-in-eastern-/">told</a> Saudi media. “There are areas that were swept away entirely into the sea.”
Libya has been divided by rival factions since the U.S.-backed overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, and internal conflicts appear to have led to a serious neglect of local infrastructure, which likely contributed to the collapse of the dams.
<div id="attachment_619237" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-619237" class="wp-image-619237 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/Libyan_Civil_War.svg_-600x576.png" alt="" width="600" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/Libyan_Civil_War.svg_-600x576.png 600w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/Libyan_Civil_War.svg_-300x288.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/Libyan_Civil_War.svg_.png 700w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" />Image by Ali Zifan Via Wikimedia Commons</div>
Derna has also traded hands several times – the city briefly fell under the control of the Islamic State terror group in 2014 before they were ousted by another Islamist group the following year. The Libyan National Army, which controls much of eastern Libya, took control of the city in 2019 after months of fighting. According to Jalel Harchaoui, an associate fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies, the LNA has been distrustful of the locals ever since.
“This mistrust might prove calamitous during the upcoming post-disaster period,” he <a href="https://apnews.com/article/derna-libya-floods-storm-daniel-95379b164871d97fb74b1cd1bcb5640c">said</a>.
The LNA government, as well as its U.N.-backed, Tripoli-based rival and various international aid groups such as the Red Crescent, have offered aid to the city, but many of the roads into and out of Derna have been badly damaged, hampering evacuation efforts and slowing the emergency response.

TOPSHOT-LIBYA-WEATHER-FLOODS

Thousands Killed In Libyan Flash Floods After Tropical Storm

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/communist-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chinese</a> officials have announced a considerable cash reward for any information that could lead to the arrest of eight dissidents who fled the country &#8212; including three former lawmakers.
A bounty of 1 million <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hong-kong">Hong Kong</a> dollars (roughly $125,000 USD) has been placed on eight pro-democracy activists who fled the city in the aftermath of a government crackdown on the Hong Kong protests of 2019-2020. The dissidents, who currently reside in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, have been accused of violating Hong Kong’s national security law, which criminalized calls for secession or subversion of the Chinese government.
“Our action is to tell everybody that endangering national security is not something we will tolerate,” Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee told the press during a weekly briefing.
Hong Kong was seized from China by the British during the First Opium War and was administered as a British colony for nearly a century and a half. During that time it became a major trading center, and for decades it was consistently ranked highly on measures of economic freedom and human development.
Hong Kong was ceded back to China in 1997 after a 99-year lease for a portion of the territory expired. Britain was technically entitled to parts of Hong Kong in perpetuity, but for political and logistical reasons, agreed to transfer control of the entire territory to the Chinese Communist Party on the condition that Hong Kong would retain some autonomy for at least 50 years.
Hong Kong continued to function as a western-style democracy within China, and was governed as a &#8220;special administrative zone,&#8221; but over the subsequent decades, the Chinese central government began exerting more and more influence in the city’s internal affairs. Interference in local elections and a bill that would allow citizens of Hong Kong to be extradited to the mainland sparked massive pro-democracy and anti-government protests in 2019.
Those protests were met with a severe government crackdown, and the bounties placed by police on the eight dissidents are larger than many active bounties placed on <a href="https://www.police.gov.hk/ppp_en/06_appeals_public/wanted/index.html">rapists and murderers</a>.
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Anna Kwon, one of the eight dissidents named by police, told TIME magazine that she has to be increasingly careful where and how she travels, and has limited her ability to engage with other members of the Chinese diaspora.
“The Hong Kong authorities are trying to rile up a mob mentality among pro-Beijing supporters,” she <a href="https://time.com/6292047/hong-kong-activists-arrest-warrants-bounties/">said</a>. “It’s a usual tactic from the Chinese Communist Party to pit people against people.”
“During the 2019-20 protest movement, I was followed, struck by a car, assaulted with pepper spray and arrested on multiple charges,” Ted Hui, former member of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council and another of the eight dissidents with a bounty on their heads, said in an editorial in <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-put-a-bounty-on-my-head-hong-kong-arrest-ccp-democracy-activist-prison-sentence-d5eed82f">The Wall Street Journal</a>. “260 people, as young as 15 and as old as 90, have been arrested for national-security offenses that carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.”
China has come under increasing scrutiny for its targeting of overseas dissidents &#8212; late last year, watchdog organizations exposed <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/China-s-100-plus-secret-police-stations-span-from-NY-to-Tokyo#:~:text=China%20has%20set%20up%20at,said%20in%20a%20December%20report.">more than 100 secret Chinese police stations</a> that were illegally operating in 53 countries, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-arrest-two-men-for-running-illegal-overseas-police-station-for-communist-china-in-nyc-doj">including the U.S.</a>
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Michael Whittaker