Media outlets have employed a photo of an emaciated Gaza child to substantiate claims that Israel is intentionally starving residents of the Hamas-controlled zone.
But the legacy media never reported that the child, now 20 months old, suffers from numerous medical problems — nor that his three-year-old brother looks healthy with no signs of malnutrition, <a href="https://david-collier.com/the-truth-behind-the-viral-gaza-famine-photo/">according</a> to an investigation.
This viral image of a child in Gaza was misreported as proof of starvation caused by Israel. In reality, Muhammad&#8217;s health condition, not hunger, is the issue. It&#8217;s time for the media to correct their misleading coverage. <a href="https://t.co/UnE28pyyrb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://t.co/UnE28pyyrb</a>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) <a href="https://twitter.com/HonestReporting/status/1949768419491913868?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">July 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Published initially on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DMXyCYCN2CD/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a> with the caption, “A body eated [sic] by hunger, and eyes looking for mercy in a deaf world,” the visuals went viral after The Daily Express <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2085539/gaza-palestine-muhammad-israel-hamas-war" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showcased</a> them on its front page.
“Within hours, almost every major outlet was using the image to tell the same story,&#8221; investigative reporter David Collier <a href="https://david-collier.com/the-truth-behind-the-viral-gaza-famine-photo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>. &#8220;<a href="https://news.sky.com/story/gaza-faces-mass-starvation-with-supplies-totally-depleted-aid-agencies-warn-13400462" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sky News</a>, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2025/07/world/photos-starvation-in-gaza-intl-cnnphotos/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/23/starvation-in-gaza-is-destroying-communities-and-will-leave-generational-scars" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Guardian</a>, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14939703/Reduced-skin-bones-Gaza-famine-hell-Horrifying-picture-shows-starving-child-plastic-bag-nappy-lying-exhausted-arms-desperate-mother.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Mail</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/world/middleeast/gaza-starvation.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Times</a>, and The <a href="https://archive.ph/kfN5n" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Times (UK)</a> – they all ran with it, reinforcing the message: Gaza is gripped by mass starvation.&#8221;
“Except this image proves none of it,” he said.
“Wider and unpublished pictures show Mohammed’s healthy brother Joud, who was born on 18 April 2022 and is 3 years old. Mohammed was born on 23 December 2023, just two months after October 7. What we can see from the pictures is that both Mohammed’s mother and his older brother, look healthy and are not suffering from any type of starvation that would be necessary to cause the thinness suffered by Mohammed.
&#8220;This is visible in multiple images we have in our possession,&#8221; Collier continued. &#8220;The published images in all the various news broadcasts and publications have either been deliberately cropped to remove the image of the healthy brother, blurred him into obscurity, or the journalists have only chosen to use photos in which the brother is not visible at all.”
A medical report issued in May 2025 showed Mohammed was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as well as hypoxemia. Collier noted that in a BBC interview with Mohammed’s mother, she admitted he had physiotherapy sessions to help him stand, and the curvature of the spine could well be a result of the child’s cerebral palsy. “In a CNN report published on Saturday, the boy’s mother explained that Muhammad suffers from a muscle disorder,” Honest Reporting <a href="https://honestreporting.com/another-photo-another-lie/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>.
“From everything I’ve learned, Mohammed’s mother is simply trying to find help for her child,” Collier wrote. “She’s not hiding the truth. She tells the full story to anyone who asks. Yet every journalist who has spoken to her has made the same cynical decision: ignore the medical reality, strip the context, and turn her child into a propaganda weapon.”
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also dismissed &#8220;Hamas&#8217;s fake narrative,&#8221; writing on X that &#8220;the lie told by the media &amp; Hamas is itself a tragedy.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Hamas&#8217; fake narrative exposed: Truth about Gazan child who made global headlines. The child’s health is no less tragic but the lie told by the media &amp; Hamas is itself a tragedy. <a href="https://t.co/MdUEPAcO33" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://t.co/MdUEPAcO33</a>
— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovMikeHuckabee/status/1949793740882649521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">July 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The media also pushed another lie about the Gazan child.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This is what a modern blood libel looks like:
A sick child. A hijacked photo. A lie that spreads faster than truth.
His name is Osama al-Raqab. He has cystic fibrosis, a serious genetic illness.
He’s been in Italy receiving treatment since June 12. Israel enabled his medical… <a href="https://t.co/Sh8UBK3HVh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/Sh8UBK3HVh</a>
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) <a href="https://twitter.com/IsraelMFA/status/1949781081751765052?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">July 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“Hamas cannot afford to lose <a href="https://x.com/AGHamilton29/status/1948701831040811068" target="_blank" rel="noopener">control</a> over aid distribution – not if it intends to remain the ruling power in post-war Gaza,” Collier posited. “Channeling or controlling aid has always been one of the terrorist group’s most <a href="https://archive.ph/MywhU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reliable</a> sources of income. That’s why it has been essential for Hamas to discredit the US-Israeli <a href="https://www.gov.il/en/pages/gaza-humanitarian-foundation-operational-update" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GHF</a> aid <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/07/1165396" target="_blank" rel="noopener">program </a>and portray it as a failure. This has included an almost <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20rz63g1zko" target="_blank" rel="noopener">daily</a> pantomime of <a href="https://x.com/mishtal/status/1946619392118210608" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unverified</a> claims that hundreds have been killed in Israeli attacks while queuing for aid. Yet in the most documented conflict zone in history, credible video evidence remains conspicuously absent = despite claims of daily occurrences.”
“There is plenty of publicly available <a href="https://x.com/Aizenberg55/status/1948009090841731308?t=XV2bpG8Dm755IFqW7P6ecw&amp;s=19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">information</a> showing that significant quantities of food are entering Gaza. But with local <a href="https://x.com/AGHamilton29/status/1948701831040811068" target="_blank" rel="noopener">media</a> firmly under the control of Hamas, none of this gets reported,” he stated. “Instead of helping facilitate aid delivery, UN agencies have imposed impossible conditions, <a href="https://archive.ph/XNkGg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stalling</a> convoys and leaving hundreds of trucks abandoned – their contents rotting just a short distance from those in need. &#8230; Let’s call this what it is: The UN, UNRWA and other NGOs are not prioritizing the safety of Palestinian civilians or indeed getting aid to a population they maintain are in desperate and immediate need of food. Instead it seems, they are prioritizing a political agenda that aligns with – and thus ensures – the survival of Hamas. They’re not neutral. They’re enablers.”
Collier’s comments were buttressed by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who told NBC’s Meet The Press on Sunday, that “Israel, since this war began, has supplied over 94,000 truckloads full of food. It&#8217;s enough food to feed two million people for two years, trying to get that into Gaza. But Hamas has stolen the food, a huge amount. In fact in 2024, the numbers are that Hamas profited over $500 million in stolen food aid that was supposed to go to these poor people who needed it. That&#8217;s half of their budget.”

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Media Share Misleading Images Of Gazan Child To Falsely Accuse Israel Of Mass Starvation

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North Korea announced Wednesday that it would open a new beach resort on July 1, part of Kim Jong Un’s effort to revive the country’s suffering economy with tourism.
The Korean Central News Agency <a href="https://kcnawatch.org/newstream/1750935738-331924234/tourist-attraction-on-east-coast%E2%80%93new-scenic-beauty-of-socialist-cultural-efflorescence-inaugural-ceremony-of-wonsan-kalma-coastal-tourist-area-held-with-splendour/">claims</a> the resort spans four kilometers of coastline in the city of Wosan, and can accommodate 20,000 people. Amenities include “sea-bathing service facilities and various sports, amusement, commercial and public catering facilities.”
“Kim Jong Un, the great artist of creation and construction and the dear father … is ushering in a new era of prosperity and development,&#8221; KCNA said.
The state-run news service reports Kim Jong Un took an active role in the construction of the resort, stating that it was “what he most wanted to do for the people,” and that it was “a prelude to a new era of our country’s tourism.” He reportedly expressed his desire that the resort be “without an equal in the world.”
Attendees of the inaugural ceremony included top North Korean officials, as well as the Russian ambassador Alexander Matsegora and his staff, BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0w59r54w9o">reported</a>.
It’s unlikely that the resort will actually live up to Pyongyang’s description. The state media consistently praises Kim’s new pet building projects in the highest terms, when in reality, they lack basic functions or are unable to perform basic operations.
In April, Kim announced the completion of a 10,000-unit apartment complex in Pyongyang, calling it a “beautiful and modern urban quarter” heralding “a new era of prosperity.” However, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/19/style/north-korea-hwasong-pyongyang-housing-intl-hnk/index.html">noted</a> during a visit that the elevators were inoperable due to electricity shortages.
In 2014, a new Pyongyang apartment building <a href="https://nypost.com/2014/05/17/kim-jong-un-sat-up-all-night-after-serious-construction-accident/">collapsed</a> due to structural defects.
In May, Kim’s new 5,000-ton naval destroyer, which was supposed to be “North Korea’s most ambitious naval modernization effort in decades,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/22/asia/north-korea-destroyer-accident-intl-hnk-ml">capsized</a> during its launch.
It is unclear whether the resort will be open to Westerners. North Korea shut down its borders in 2020, reopening them to Russians in 2023 and Westerners in February 2025 for a short period before closing them again in March.
Currently, the United States prohibits citizens from travelling to North Korea due to the lack of diplomatic relations and “the continuing serious risk of arrest, long-term detention, and the threat of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals.”
This tragically played out in 2016 when Otto Warmbier, a student at Virginia University, travelled to North Korea for a Christmas break trip. North Korea alleges he stole a propaganda poster, and sentenced him to 15 years of hard labor. Though U.S. diplomats tried to get him released, he was returned brain-dead a year and a half into his sentence.
The resort is “unlikely to be a major draw for most Western tourists,” <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0w59r54w9o">says</a> Rowan Beard, co-founder of exotic tour company Young Pioneer Tours.
&#8220;Key sites like Pyongyang, the DMZ, and other brutalist or communist landmarks will continue to be the main highlights for international visitors once broader tourism resumes.&#8221;

Kim Jong Un

North Korea Praises ‘Great Artist Of Creation’ Kim Jong Un As Beach Resort Opens

Global Politics

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Iran’s Supreme National Security Council took a page directly from the Baghdad Bob playbook and claimed on Monday that Iranian missiles had &#8220;destroyed the U.S. air base in Al-Udeid, Qatar,&#8221; in response to the targeted American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites that took place on Saturday.
As reported by i24 News Senior Middle East correspondent Ariel Oseran, &#8220;Iran’s Supreme National Security Council: &#8216;Our forces destroyed the U.S. air base in Al-Udeid, Qatar, in response to America&#8217;s attack against our nuclear facilities&#8230; This action does not pose any threat to our friendly and brotherly country, Qatar.'&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council: “Our forces destroyed the U.S. air base in Al-Udeid, Qatar, in response to America&#8217;s attack against our nuclear facilities&#8230; This action does not pose any threat to our friendly and brotherly country, Qatar.” <a href="https://t.co/8DKcT854A8">pic.twitter.com/8DKcT854A8</a>
— Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) <a href="https://twitter.com/ariel_oseran/status/1937199317434933419?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
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But Oseran also noted that Qatari officials had reported a different version of events: &#8220;Qatari air defenses shot down 9 out of 10 Iranian missiles launched at the U.S. Al-Udeid Air Base, Qatar’s Al-Araby TV reports. One Iranian missile fell in an open area at the air base.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Qatari air defenses shot down 9 out of 10 Iranian missiles launched at the U.S. Al-Udeid Air Base, Qatar’s Al-Araby TV reports. One Iranian missile fell in an open area at at the air base. <a href="https://t.co/9UVSxt4Pb5">https://t.co/9UVSxt4Pb5</a>
— Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) <a href="https://twitter.com/ariel_oseran/status/1937200155859566667?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari released a statement condemning the attack, but also casting doubt on the Iranian version of events.
<blockquote>We express the State of Qatar&#8217;s strong condemnation of the attack on Al Udeid Air Base by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and consider it a flagrant violation of the State of Qatar&#8217;s sovereignty and airspace, as well as of international law and the United Nations Charter. We affirm that the State of Qatar reserves the right to respond directly in a manner proportional to the nature and scale of this blatant aggression and in accordance with international law. We are reassured that Qatari air defenses thwarted the attack and successfully intercepted the Iranian missiles. The Ministry of Defense will issue a statement clarifying the circumstances of the attack later.
We also affirm that the continuation of such escalating military actions will undermine security and stability in the region and drag it into situations that will have disastrous repercussions for international peace and security. We call for an immediate cessation of all military actions and a serious return to the negotiating table and dialogue. We emphasize that the State of Qatar was among the first countries to warn against the consequences of Israeli escalation in the region*, calling for the priority of diplomatic solutions, and adhering to the principles of good neighborliness and non-escalation, affirming that dialogue is the only way to overcome current crises and preserve the security of the region and the peace of its peoples.
The base had been evacuated earlier in accordance with approved security and precautionary measures, in light of the tensions currently prevailing in the region. All necessary measures were taken to ensure the safety of the base&#8217;s personnel, including members of the Qatari Armed Forces, friendly forces, and others. He confirmed that no injuries or human losses occurred as a result of the attack.</blockquote>
Multiple reports also claimed that Iran had warned Qatar prior to the attack: &#8220;Iran symbolically needed to strike back at the U.S. but at the same time carry it out in in a way that allowed all sides an exit ramp.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NYT: Iran coordinated the attack with Qatar to minimize casualties.
“Iran symbolically needed to strike back at the U.S.” and “allow all sides an exit ramp” — similar to their response in 2020 following Soleimani <a href="https://t.co/9aM6yEOk8K">pic.twitter.com/9aM6yEOk8K</a>
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1937203513534349649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
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President Donald Trump also responded to the attack, confirming that there were no reported casualties.
&#8220;I’d like to thank the Highly Respected Emir of Qatar for all that he has done in seeking Peace for the Region. Regarding the attack today at the American Base in Qatar, I am pleased to report that, in addition to no Americans being killed or wounded, very importantly, there have also been no Qataris killed or wounded. Thank you for your attention to this matter!&#8221; he posted via his Truth Social account.
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<a href="https://t.co/y2PfbJGgZY">pic.twitter.com/y2PfbJGgZY</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1937238331009695862?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
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TOPSHOT-QATAR-IRAN-US-ISRAEL

Iran Goes Full Baghdad Bob, Claims Attack ‘Destroyed’ U.S. Air Base In Qatar

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Freedom of speech is under <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/censorship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attack</a>, not just in authoritarian regimes like Russia, North Korea, or Venezuela, but also in Western nations that once championed it. I know because I’ve lived through it before.
I was born and raised in Venezuela, where opposing the socialist regime came at a high cost. From a young age, I spoke out against tyranny. In a country that does not tolerate dissent, that meant facing real consequences. I was expelled from my university simply for questioning communist propaganda in class. Soon after, I was accused of being a “terrorist” for my political beliefs.
Now, living in the United States, I cherish the ability to speak freely. But that appreciation comes with deep concern. I am now witnessing Western nations — once bastions of liberty — embrace restrictions on speech under the guise of fighting hate and misinformation. What’s even more alarming is that many young people in my own generation champion this threat to free speech.
<h3>Thought Police In Action</h3>
In February, CBS <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/germany-online-hate-speech-prosecution-60-minutes/">aired</a> an interview with German officials who openly admitted that the German government is using its power to criminalize &#8220;hate or toxic speech.&#8221; When journalist Sharyn Alfonsi asked whether publishing an insult or a lie was a crime, the German prosecutors <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cbs-claims-free-speech-caused-the-holocaust" target="_blank" rel="noopener">answered</a> without hesitation, &#8220;Yes.&#8221; In Germany, law enforcement raids homes, fines citizens, and even imprisons those whose speech is deemed offensive, controversial, or false.
Sadly, Germany is not the only country to adopt this Orwellian totalitarianism. In the United Kingdom, a nation with a rich history of constitutionalism, common law, and freedom, people are now being <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cev9nxnygzpo">investigated</a> for tweets, and others are being fined or imprisoned for posting memes. Nations that should represent the best of civility and debate are sailing the seas of totalitarianism, where the state dictates what can and cannot be said.
Many Americans might dismiss this as a European problem, convinced such extreme measures could never take hold in the U.S. Nevertheless, the same mindset is creeping into American universities, where ideological obedience is enforced at the expense of free and open debate.
<h3>American Students Are Turning Against Free Speech</h3>
A <a href="https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/college.pulse/viz/2024CollegeFreeSpeechRankings/2024CollegeFreeSpeechRankings?publish=yes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (<a href="https://www.thefire.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FIRE</a>) revealed that most students would reject speakers with different views on some of the most important issues in our society. For instance, only 29% of students would allow a speaker who believes that transgender people have a mental disorder to speak on campus, and just 43% would accept an advocate for the abolition of abortion. In addition, only 37% of students believe it is never acceptable to stop a speaker, and 27% believe that violence may rarely, sometimes, or always be an acceptable response to prevent a talk on campus.
These statistics are shocking. A significant number of young people believe conservatives do not have the right to speak on campus — and some would even be willing to use force to prevent them from speaking. This mindset is a stark departure from the principles upheld by America&#8217;s Founding Fathers, who believed strongly in protecting free speech for even the most controversial opinions.
<h3>Why Free Speech Matters</h3>
The purpose of free speech is not to protect speech that pleases politicians, the government, or the majority. Free speech exists precisely to protect those who say controversial things or want to challenge power. As Thomas Jefferson <a href="https://oll.libertyfund.org/quotes/jefferson-s-preference-for-newspapers-without-government-over-government-without-newspapers-1787">pointed out</a> in 1787: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
The danger of adopting the term “hate speech” is that it is completely subjective and can be used as a political weapon. Who defines what is hateful? The answer is clear: those in power. In Venezuela, the Maduro regime branded my views as hate speech — and I’m sure some American progressives would agree. This is exactly why the right to determine what is true or false, right or wrong, must belong to individuals, not politicians.
We often claim that politicians are corrupt liars who only care about their own self-interest. So, why would we give these people the power to decide what we can say? If we truly value free speech, we must resist censorship in all its forms — no matter who enforces it or what justification they use.
* * *
Franklin Camargo is a Venezuelan-born political activist who fled his homeland due to political persecution. Now a proud advocate for liberty, capitalism, and free speech, Franklin is a political science graduate from Liberty University, a former Univision host, co-author of After Socialism, Freedom, and a <a href="https://www.prageru.com/video/franklin-camargo-i-fled-venezuela-to-fight-for-america">PragerU personality.</a>
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.

Sunset behind the illuminated Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor

I Fled Censorship In Venezuela. I Now See It Spreading In The West.

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When I studied journalism at the University of Maryland, we were trained to recognize “yellow journalism” — sensational reporting that sacrifices truth for attention. Today, American media has been overtaken by a new, more dangerous trend: “red journalism,” where government propaganda has replaced honest reporting. The reason? The 2012 <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/house-bill/5736" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Smith-Mundt Modernization Act</a>, a law quietly slipped into the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/118/plaws/publ31/PLAW-118publ31.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Defense Authorization Act</a> under President Obama. This legislation lifted bans on U.S.-funded propaganda meant for foreign audiences, allowing government and legacy media to collude on delivering propaganda to the American public. 
Ostensibly designed to counter “misinformation”, this amendment has allowed the government to weaponize our press, turning it from a watchdog into a megaphone for political agendas and false narratives. Once a pillar of democracy, legacy media has become a lap dog of the government, pushing narratives that serve those in power, not the truth.
Under Obama, media outlets went from scrutinizing policies, events, and politicians to uncritically parroting government talking points. When the Affordable Care Act’s rollout tanked, legacy outlets downplayed the issues and glossed over glaring government missteps. This disturbing pattern of sanitizing the news in favor of political spin has continued, feeding Americans one-sided narratives disguised as journalism.
Under Biden, this alignment has intensified. Critical issues like Covid, his cognitive decline, border security, inflation, and disastrous foreign policy decisions are routinely softened, outright ignored or blatantly lied about. The Afghanistan withdrawal, a deadly debacle, saw the press repeating official statements that minimized or ignored the administration&#8217;s failures. Real, investigative reporting was left to independent journalists and international sources.
This propaganda machine is especially clear in election coverage. Legacy media&#8217;s bias has shifted from subtle to brazen. Kamala Harris received glowing, uncritical coverage that boosted her image, while Donald Trump was forced to endure unsubstantiated accusations and dangerous rhetoric. From hiding the Hunter Biden laptop scandal to glossing over President Biden&#8217;s cognitive decline, legacy media has shown they are not just biased but actively complicit in shaping political outcomes to favor the administration. This is not journalism — it’s election interference and public manipulation.
A free press is the bedrock of democracy, a crucial check on government power. When the media stops questioning and starts amplifying the official line, the public loses access to objective information and becomes vulnerable to manipulation. The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act has turned American media from truth-tellers into mouthpieces for those in power, destroying public trust and democracy itself.
<h3><a href="https://get.dailywire.com/gift-guide/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE</a></h3>
Moving forward, our new Congress must make it a priority to repeal the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act and hold news outlets legally accountable for factually accurate, transparently sourced reporting. This is not an assault on free speech; it’s a demand for journalistic integrity. Our nation deserves a media landscape free from government influence, and repealing the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 would be a significant move toward that goal. Congress must seize this opportunity to restore the boundaries that protect a free and independent press and, by extension, preserve the public’s trust in the information they receive.
* * *
Elicia Brand is the founder and president of <a href="https://armyofparents.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Army of Parents</a> in Loudoun County, VA.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Holds Daily Briefing

Why Congress Must Repeal Obama’s Smith-Mundt Modernization Act

Why Congress Must Repeal Obama's Smith-Mundt Modernization Act

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We are now less than two weeks out from Election Day. The state of the race is that Donald Trump appears to be ahead going into the homestretch.
In fact, poll analyst reporter Mark Halperin <a href="https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1848747784410951918">said</a> as much yesterday, claiming that if the early voting numbers hold up the way they are right now, and if the date of voting goes the way that it did in 2020, Trump will have wrapped up this election before the Election Day even begins — because Democrats basically need to win it in the pregame or they&#8217;re going to lose it day of. 
Halperin explained, saying:
<blockquote>Let&#8217;s lead with the lead, as they say in journalism. If the early vote numbers stay the way they are, and that&#8217;s a big if, we’ll almost certainly know before Election Day who&#8217;s going to win the election. We&#8217;re going to talk a lot about that: the reasons why Democrats might be underperforming, the prospect that they&#8217;ll recover. But again, make no mistake, if these numbers hold up in the states where we can understand even partially what the data is like, we&#8217;ll know that Donald Trump&#8217;s going to be president on Election Day. </blockquote>
Halperin&#8217;s not the only one saying this. The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/22/early-voting-republicans-democrats-trump-harris/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on this yesterday as well:
<blockquote>Dozens of states have opened in-person early-voting locations, and turnout has been robust. In Georgia, more than 1.6 million people had cast in-person ballots by midmorning Tuesday — nearly one-third of the total vote from four years ago. North Carolina hit 1.4 million Tuesday, the sixth day of early voting. And in Nevada, Republicans voting in person have outnumbered Democrats — a reversal from four years ago. Nationwide, more than 18 million Americans have cast ballots in person or by mail.</blockquote>
Republican participation is radically up from where it was in 2020, after Trump encouraged people not to vote early. Now, tons of Republicans are voting early, and that means in states like Nevada, there are serious danger signs for Democrats. 
Attorney Jon Ralston, an excellent reporter at the Nevada Independent, <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/10/22/serious-danger-emerges-for-kamala-harris-as-republicans-open-early-voting-in-nevada-with-lead-over-democrats/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has noted</a> that since the rise of the political machine that late former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid built for Democrats, this has never happened. The Republican turn out amounts are unprecedented in modern times, leading early voting in Nevada. Harris is running really, really weak in the early voting thus far.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2071-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
Again, it could be that that&#8217;s cannibalizing the day of voting. It&#8217;s possible the people who are voting right now are people who would have normally voted on Election Day, or it&#8217;s possible that Republicans have actually gotten smart and many of the people who weren&#8217;t going to show up on Election Day are now voting early just to get it done.
By the way, if you are voting early, that is good because the party for which you are voting can see that you have voted. They don&#8217;t have to waste campaign resources door knocking if they already know that you voted. A senior official working on Harris&#8217;s campaign is already sounding the alarm about the Veep&#8217;s narrowing electoral path.
According to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/democrats-brace-crack-blue-wall-signs-north-carolina-slipping-rcna176046" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBC News</a>, three sources with knowledge of the campaign strategy say the campaign is worried the blue wall could at least, in part, go red this November. One senior campaign official told NBC there&#8217;s been a thought that Michigan or Wisconsin may fall off and North Carolina may no longer be in reach. If the Democrats lose North Carolina and Michigan or Wisconsin, it is difficult to see how they will win the election because, at that point, they would have to peel off Georgia. 
<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/10/22/kamala-harris-reassure-voters-liberal-00184879" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Politico</a> is reporting the same, pointing out that time is ticking off the clock for Harris: 
<blockquote>Vice President Kamala Harris and former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney descended on the crucial Milwaukee suburbs Monday night and, sitting side by side, delivered compelling political sermons.
The problem was they were preaching to the converted. 
 
The event was explicitly aimed at those moderates and onetime Republicans who remain up for grabs, and may decide the election, but the rhetoric seemed better suited for those in the audience wearing “The Lincoln Project” and “,LA” t-shirts.</blockquote>
They&#8217;ve got a problem on their hands, and so it is now time to pull out all the stops, which could be that Harris could run a better campaign. That, of course, is highly unlikely. She&#8217;s not going to run a better campaign because she&#8217;s not a good candidate.
Hilariously, there was an op-ed in The Hill two days ago wondering if perhaps Joe Biden was, after all, a better candidate than Kamala Harris, which of course, is what Joe Biden has been saying all along, despite being dead. 
 
Kamala Harris, for her part, can&#8217;t even answer simple questions as to whether Biden is sentient and alive. She will not answer questions on the decline of the person she shoved off the back of the train and stole the nomination of.
In <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/transcript-president-kamala-harris-interview-nbc-news-hallie-jackson-rcna176330" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an interview</a> with NBC News, Harris attempted to explain Joe Biden&#8217;s mental state when pointblank asked about him: 
<blockquote>JACKSON: You have made it clear that you believe this is a binary choice between you and Donald Trump. That’s — those are candidates that are on the ballot, of course.
HARRIS: There’s only two choices…yes. 
JACKSON: Of course, yes, but, and I know that Joe Biden is not on the ballot, I understand that, but the reason that you are at the top of the ticket is because he dropped out of this race. And so I want to ask you, and it was largely because of that debate performance back in June. You defended him in the days before and in the days after, as you were campaigning for another four years for President Biden. Can you say that you were honest with the American people about what you saw in those moments with President Biden, as you were with him again and again, repeatedly in that time? 
HARRIS: Of course. Joe Biden is an — extremely accomplished, experienced and capable in every way that anyone would want of their president. Absolutely.
JACKSON: And you never saw anything like what happened at the debate night behind closed doors with him? 
HARRIS: It was a bad debate. People have bad debates. That — he is absolutely…
JACKSON: But that’s the reason why you’re here, and he’s not running for the top of the ticket. 
HARRIS: Well, you’d have to ask him if that’s the only reason why. 
JACKSON: What do you think?
HARRIS: I am running for President of the United States. Joe Biden is not, and my presidency will be about bringing a new generation of leadership to America that is focused on the work that we need to do, to invest in the ambitions and aspirations of the American people. </blockquote>
This lady has absolutely nothing. The reason that she has lost all steam is because she has nothing. She cannot even answer the simple question, “Why are you in that chair and Joe Biden isn&#8217;t in that chair?” — when everyone in America knows the answer to that question, including, of course, Kamala Harris. 
Harris has basically been relegated to throwing out bribes to various constituency groups. Just a couple of weeks ago, she pledged to hand out $20,000 to black people in forgivable loans. She is now doing the same for Latinos because she&#8217;s been losing Latino votes. 
In a statement yesterday, she <a href="https://x.com/KamalaHarris/status/1848713701848658388" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote:</a>
<blockquote>Donald Trump has disrespected and insulted Latino men in communities. As president, I will invest in them.” What does that mean? It means that she will “help Latino men and others start and grow small businesses with no interest loans or deferred loan repayments, and fully forgivable loans up to $20k.</blockquote>
Bribery. We are now in the realm of open bribery. By the way, you are not allowed to give out government grants by race. That is illegal in the United States.
This is her campaign and it&#8217;s failing.
<h3><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH&#8217;S &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28</a></h3>
Now the time has come for October surprises. The Democrats have a problem when it comes to surprises with Trump. This has been true for years because Trump is a monster made out of mud. When you throw more mud at a monster made out of mud, it turns out he just looks like a monster made out of mud. Trump is the black socks of presidential candidates. Black socks never get dirty. The longer you wear them, the blacker they get.
That is who Donald Trump is. The more you throw at him, the more he just looks like Donald Trump because he is the most well-established political figure in the American mind in my lifetime — and my parents lifetime as well.
There is no one in America who does not have an opinion about Trump right now. The question for undecided voters is not what they think about Trump. The question is what they think about Harris.
Trump&#8217;s numbers have been incredibly steady for the entirety of this election cycle. In polling, Trump&#8217;s national average polling has been between 46% and 48% of the entirety of this race. Meanwhile, there is much more variability for Harris.
So, the Democrats are getting desperate.

Donald Trump Campaigns For President In Georgia Ahead Of November Election

October Surprise! Media Launch Ugliest Anti-Trump Smears Yet

2024 Election

Ben Shapiro

Donald Trump

Kamala Harris

The Atlantic

Tim Walz

U.S. Politics

Since when did the free press of the United States become a useful idiot? Why are mainstream media outlets, across the spectrum, parroting propaganda from the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI)? The Wall Street Journal spoke of the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/irans-election-features-a-reformer-a-hardliner-and-a-crisis-3360fad2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent Iranian elections</a>, without declaring its sham nature. The Atlantic published an <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2024/07/iran-election-pezeshkian-khamenei/678948/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unironic piece</a> detailing Ayatollah Khamenei&#8217;s fear of the reformist party, failing to note that Iran is a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57260831">totalitarian state</a>. Nothing happens without his approval, so what exactly does he have to fear? The New York Times is no better. Their <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/world/middleeast/iran-new-president-pezeshkian.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent portrayal</a> of the new Iranian president paints a sympathetic portrait.
Apparently, the following points need to be made for the American public.
One, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) is an Islamic theocracy with Ayatollah Khamenei as its Supreme Leader. Khamenei’s regime controls everything in the country. I repeat: everything. This is a foreign concept to Americans basking in the land of the free. So let me provide an example. When I was living in Iran, the regime chose what college I attended. The regime chose my major. The regime forced me to cut my long hair. Like the other 80 million Iranians, I had no agency over my own life.
Moreover, external narratives originating from the regime cannot be trusted. This includes any Iranian news outlet, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14542234" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as all media is state-run</a>. To maintain a modicum of grace within the Western world powers, the regime creates a facade of liberalism. This is their propaganda. It is a mirage, a lie sold to the West in order to continue <a href="https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/25701/how-iran-and-her-proxies-use-western-resources-to" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leeching Western resources</a>, like funding and research, to further entrench their ideology. Instead, listen to what they say behind our backs. MEMRI, an independent U.S.-based nonprofit, translates scores of <a href="https://www.memri.org/countries/iran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">internal IRI media</a>. Perusing these translations informs us of IRI’s true intentions.
Two, in general, the Iranian people are not our enemy. They suffer most under the oppressive regime and are essentially a collective political prisoner. The lucky few who escaped deserve our compassion and attention, not the ones who are <a href="https://medium.com/@mitra.jashni7/islamic-republic-apologists-in-the-west-are-cheering-for-nuclear-weapons-935f8064f297" target="_blank" rel="noopener">regime apologists</a> and come to the West to whitewash IRI’s crimes. They, who have endured trauma beyond comprehension, do not deserve  treatment similar from which they ran away. When I fled to America nearly eight years ago, I faced resistance when telling my story. It continues to alarm me that other Iranian dissidents, some who continue to face <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iranian-dissidents-abductions-assassination-attemts-60-minutes-transcript/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">death threats</a> from the regime, are being silenced. Some even have <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/01/29/1227634325/iran-murder-for-hire-plot-maryland" target="_blank" rel="noopener">terror plots against them</a>. Americans need to listen to these people. We have seen the other side (spoiler alert: it’s terrifying), we notice the warning signs, and we are committed to preserving freedom.
Three, the IRI seeks the destruction of the West, particularly America. This is not hyperbole. Don’t laugh this off. I know it sounds absurd. The end may not come with fire and brimstone, but perhaps rather a social unraveling. I fear that if <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/312644/national-pride-falls-record-low.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diminishing pride</a> in our country continues to grow, our institutions and infrastructure of freedom will whither. It can be metaphorical suicide to take our freedom for granted. There is a reason Ayatollah Khamenei <a href="https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/1795963798831964411" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted support</a> for American college student protesters and their encampments — which also highlights the regime’s double standard, as the Iranian people do not have access to Twitter. In fact, I echo the request of <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-03-22/iran-protests-target-ayatollah-khamenei-social-media-accounts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Iranian dissidents</a> who call upon Elon Musk and other tech giants to ban Khamenei. The Supreme Leader gets high off of American turmoil. Our chaos is his schadenfreude. To be clear, anything that pleases Ayatollah Khamenei should revolt us. He <a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-crime-government-and-politics-da53071412f8c3da9cd51945b7870780" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hangs political prisoners from cranes</a> for all to see.  He <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/25/opinions/nobel-peace-gender-apartheid-un-narges-mohammadi/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">upholds gender apartheid</a>, forcing women into a second-class caste. If Ayatollah Khamenei says you’re on the “right side of history,” you’re on the wrong side.
We need to be vigilant about our language. Language directly shapes how we understand our world. The stakes are too high to misunderstand the Iranian regime and the threat they pose. The challenge, of course, is that certain terms carry a different meaning in the IRI context. Words hold very different definitions within IRI. Words like “government” — for Americans this connotes something that is by the people for the people, which the Iranian regime is neither; “private” — the regime controls everything; “private” institutions in IRI are still public; “reformist” — this sounds palatable to Western ears, but the <a href="https://democrawonk.com/2024/06/28/iranian-elections-the-never-ending-saga-of-hardliners-vs-reformists/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reformists and hardliners in IRI are one and the same;</a> “crime” — did you know it is <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-62205744">illegal to own a dog in Iran?</a> 
If you struggle to understand the Islamic Republic, discard all that you know about the world and start anew. Just because a word is familiar, do not assume you know what it means in the IRI context.
Our journalists bear the burden of truth telling and clear communication. I urge them to reject IRI propaganda.
* * *
William Mehrvarz was born and raised in the Islamic Republic of Iran. After rejecting Islam (the crime of apostasy), he fled under the threat of execution to seek asylum in the United States. He now writes and speaks about the dangers of Islamism and the importance of religious freedom. William can be reached on <a href="https://x.com/WilliamMehrvarz" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://x.com/WilliamMehrvarz&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1723843824564000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2O7Yz6sD6Yq1snu_mkvACW">X</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.

Iran-Celebrating Iran’s IRGC Missile And UAV Attack Against Israel

I Am From Iran. Here’s Why American Journalists Need To Reject Iranian Propaganda.

I Am From Iran. Here's Why American Journalists Need To Reject Iranian Propaganda.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

journalist

New York Times

Radical Islam

Wall Street Journal

There’s a reason some of the biggest streaming hits are often ten or more years old.
The Hollywood that produced “Friends,” “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation,” and “Seinfeld” wanted one thing — to entertain and, by extension, bag big ratings.
Today’s Hollywood is different. So says the general public, which just dramatically noted that modern films are <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2024/04/03/nolte-exclusive-by-2-to-1-americans-believe-movies-are-worse-today/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worse than they were</a> just a decade ago. Re-issues of classic films like “Hocus Pocus” sometimes <a href="https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3783159/hocus-pocus-just-made-nearly-2-million-in-theatrical-re-release-for-30th-anniversary/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lap newer titles at the box office</a>.
What changed? You might pin some of the blame on propaganda.
While many modern TV shows and movies remain apolitical and free of culture war fallout, many others embrace the new shift. 
Not only are today’s storytellers eager to insert their progressive agendas into new projects, but the industry calls upon groups tasked with helping them do just that.
The stories in question often suffer as a result, forcing viewers to scramble for older product.
A new report from Just The News shared how <a href="https://justthenews.com/accountability/media/groups-coordinate-hundreds-outlets-push-climate-crisis-news-and-entertainment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Good Energy Stories works with Hollywood</a> to “insert political messages regarding climate change into television, film, and media.”
It’s unclear how many studios or screenwriters have tapped the group’s resources, but it’s hard not to notice how its preferred themes infiltrate movies and TV shows. There’s even a term used for fictional yarns with climate change themes: <a href="https://www.science.smith.edu/climatelit/cli-fi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cli-fi</a>.
TV and film characters routinely name drop “global warming,” “climate change,” and similar phrases even when the stories have little to do with the environment.
The hard-feminist comedy “Barbie,” for example, featured this line:
<blockquote>You set the feminist movement back 50 years, you destroyed girls’ innate sense of worth, and you’re killing the planet with your glorification of rampant consumerism</blockquote>
Or consider this bloated bit of dialogue from “Mission: Impossible &#8211; Dead Reckoning Part One:”
<blockquote>The next world war isn’t going to be a cold one. It’s going to be a ballistic war over a rapidly shrinking ecosystem. It’s going to be a war for the last of our dwindling energy, drinkable water, and breathable air. Your days of fighting for the greater good are over.</blockquote>
Other movies, like “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” directly address eco-concerns.
If a film doesn’t name-check climate change it might embrace other parts of the progressive agenda, like open-border policies. For that, Define American stands ready to advise eager screenwriters. The group, formed by illegal immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas, says it <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/11/entertainment/immigration-tv-shows/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">consulted on 75 film and TV shows as of 2021.</a>
Since then, we’ve seen more fictional stories pushing an open borders narrative like 2023’s “Unseen” documentary and Fox&#8217;s <a href="https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/culture/elise-ehrhard/2024/03/27/foxs-cleaning-lady-glorifies-illegals-makes-cartel-leader" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“The Cleaning Lady” series</a>.
The upcoming Zoe Saldana drama “The Absence of Eden” suggests yet another sympathetic portrait of “undocumented immigrants.” Here’s the official synopsis:
<blockquote>The Absence of Eden takes place at the border between the United States and Mexico … When Esmee (Saldaña), a young woman working as a private dancer in Mexico, is forced to commit a violent act of self-defense that results in the death of a cartel member, she flees her homeland for sanctuary in the United States… Before crossing the border, the mother is taken from the group, and Esmee promises to protect her daughter and help them reunite again in America, touching off an interlocking story about people struggling to survive on America’s border with Mexico.</blockquote>
Hollywood also loves gun control narratives, despite cranking out endless action films teeming with so-called “gun violence.” For that, screenwriters can turn to Everytown for Gun Safety, a group that regularly canoodles with Hollywood talent to inject their narratives into the stories we see.
Its Creative Council, including Oscar-nominee Julianne Moore, has a long history of shaping Hollywood stories. The Netflix drama “House of Cards” <a href="https://www.americas1stfreedom.org/content/gun-control-s-hollywood-connections/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">created a storyline</a> tied to new gun laws that steered viewers to an Everytown website sharing similar messaging.
Films like 2016’s “Miss Sloane,” which leaned heavily on outside consultants to shape its gun-centric storyline, offer more blatant examples of the collaborations in play.
The University of Southern California (USC) joined the movement, producing a handbook last year <a href="https://thereload.com/usc-highlights-gun-control-groups-talking-points-in-guide-intended-to-influence-hollywoods-depiction-of-guns/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">for Hollywood creatives to follow.</a>
<blockquote>Trigger Warning: Gun Guidelines for Media” “provides guidance on how TV shows, movies, and even news shows should approach issues such as officer-involved shootings, gun storage, mass shootings, school shootings, and partner violence.</blockquote>
Hollywood’s woke revolution offers another propaganda-like product. Gender-swapped stories abound, becoming so commonplace it’s now <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gina-carano-skewers-disneys-kathleen-kennedy-over-hilarious-south-park-send-up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a source of mainstream ridicule</a> thanks to &#8220;South Park.&#8221;
And then there&#8217;s Late-night television, often indistinguishable from DNC talking points.
The line between comedian and White House press secretary blurred beyond belief recently when “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert took part in a Biden fundraising soiree. Colbert’s appearance didn’t surprise anyone. The far-Left host relentlessly uses his CBS show’s platform to attack Republicans, deify Democrats, and ignore stories that paint progressives in an unflattering light.
He’s joined, to varying degrees, by fellow late-night hosts Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver and Jimmy Fallon. Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” offers a rotating lineup of far-left comedians who essentially do the same.
Their propaganda-riddled monologues inspired the birth of a new phrase — “Clapter,” meaning “jokes “meant to draw more applause than laughter.
In that regard, Colbert is in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1ZmbRXTKAs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">class by himself</a>.
Colbert cherry-picked comments from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s testimony tied to President Joe Biden’s document scandal. The comic’s monologue could be a gaslighting primer, suggesting Biden’s memory is far sharper than we realize.
That’s not comedy or entertainment. It’s propaganda. And, sadly, it has plenty of company in Hollywood.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="http://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://twitter.com/HollywoodInToto?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@HollywoodInToto</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

VOD service screen with remote control in hand

Hollywood’s Propaganda Machine Leaves Viewers Scrambling For Older Shows

Climate Change

Entertainment

Gun Control

Hollywood

Illegal Immigration

Readers Pass

The Biden administration lashed out on Monday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled that he will ban Aljazeera, a Qatari government-controlled propaganda channel, from Israel because of the lies it has told about the October 7 terrorist attack and because some of its journalists participated in the attack.
Israeli lawmakers in the Knesset passed a measure 71-10 on Monday giving Netanyahu the power to ban the organization.
&#8220;Al Jazeera harmed Israel&#8217;s security, actively participated in the October 7 massacre, and incited against IDF soldiers,&#8221; Netanyahu posted on X. &#8220;It is time to remove the shofar of Hamas from our country. The terrorist channel Al Jazeera will no longer broadcast from Israel.&#8221;
&#8220;I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel&#8217;s activity,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I welcome the law promoted by Communications Minister Shlomo Karai with the support of coalition members led by coalition chairman Ofir Katz.&#8221;
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre lashed out at Israel during the White House press briefing on Monday, saying that it was concerning that Israel would ban a propaganda network that is controlled by a country that has <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/terror-watch-its-time-rethink-our-relationship-qatar-opinion-1834604">strong ties</a> to terrorism.
&#8220;At least the reports that we’ve seen — is about Al Jazeera, specifically. But it doesn’t matter, whichever — right? — journalists more broadly,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But if it is true — if it is true, a move like this is concerning. We believe in the freedom of the press. It is critical. It is critically important. And the United States supports the critically important work journalists around the world do. And so — and that includes those who are reporting in — in the conflict in Gaza.&#8221;
&#8220;So, we believe that work is important, the freedom of the press is important,&#8221; she added. &#8220;And if those reports are true, it is concerning to us.&#8221;

In this photo illustration an Aljazeera logo seen displayed

White House Lashes Out After Israel Signals It Will Ban ‘Terrorist’ Propaganda Channel

Al Jazeera

Benjamin Netanyahu

Hamas

Karine Jean-Pierre

White House

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired back at an ABC News journalist during an interview over the weekend after the journalist promoted Hamas terrorist propaganda.
Netanyahu made the remarks during a Sunday interview with ABC News&#8217;s Jonathan Karl on &#8220;This Week&#8221; while discussing Israel&#8217;s military campaign against Hamas, which came as a response to Hamas murdering 1,200 people in Israel and wounding thousands more in an unprecedented terrorist attack last year.
Netanyahu was asked to respond to President Joe Biden calling Israel&#8217;s military campaign &#8220;over the top,&#8221; remarks that Biden made during a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrats-panic-after-bidens-disastrous-press-conference-worse-than-an-indictment">press conference</a> last week about his mental fitness for office where <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-explodes-during-press-conference-on-his-mental-fitness-makes-several-mental-mistakes">he repeatedly made mental fumbles</a>.
&#8220;I appreciate President Biden&#8217;s support for Israel since the beginning of the war. I don&#8217;t know exactly what he meant by that, but put yourself in Israel&#8217;s shoes,&#8221; Netanyahu said. &#8220;We were attacked. unprovoked attack, murderous attack, on October 7th, the worst attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust. And let me tell you, I think we&#8217;ve responded in a way that goes after the terrorists and tries to minimize the civilian population in which the terrorists embed themselves and use them as human shields.&#8221;
Netanyahu highlighted the extensive measures that Israel took to mitigate the loss of innocent life during its military operation, including <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGCWHldanCQ">dropping hundreds of thousands of fliers</a>, calling and urging Palestinians to leave their homes, giving them safe corridors and zones to leave, and more.
Karl then promoted Hamas propaganda from the Ministry of Health in Gaza, which is run by Hamas, claiming that Israel has killed 28,000 people.
&#8220;I think that any civilian loss, any civilian casualty is a tragedy, and it&#8217;s a tragedy that is forced upon us by Hamas,&#8221; Netanyahu responded. &#8220;But let me tell you something. I&#8217;d be cautious with the Hamas statistics. And I can tell you that, according to these urban warfare experts and other commentators, we&#8217;ve brought down the civilian-to-terrorist casualties, the ratio, down below 1-1, which is considerably less than in any other theater of similar warfare. And we&#8217;re going to do more.&#8221;
&#8220;We have killed &#8212; we&#8217;ve killed and wounded over 20,000 Hamas terrorists, out of that about 12,000 &#8212; 12,000 fighters,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;And we&#8217;re doing everything we can to minimize civilian casualties and continue to do so. But one thing we&#8217;re not going to do is we&#8217;re not going to let Hamas emerge victorious. And if we leave, it will be a tremendous victory for the Iran terror axis. It&#8217;s bad for everyone.&#8221;
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Netanyahu said that victory was close for Israel as it has eliminated 18 out of Hamas&#8217; 24 terrorist battalions.
&#8220;You&#8217;re mopping up the remaining individual terrorists, and when they release the hostages, of course, and ensure that Hamas &#8212; that Gaza is no longer a threat to Israel,&#8221; he said in describing what it will take to end the war. &#8220;You don&#8217;t have to kill every last terrorist. You don&#8217;t have to kill every last ISIS terrorist, but you make sure that ISIS was finished as a military force. You have to dismantle. Hamas is a military force that controls territory. We&#8217;re well within reach, and we shouldn&#8217;t stop.&#8221;
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Netanyahu: Securing hostages&#039; release and eliminating Hamas &#039;not mutually exclusive&#039;" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3_ga0t9LR58?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Visits Berlin

Netanyahu Smacks Down ABC News For Promoting Hamas Propaganda

ABC News

Jonathan Karl

Politics

It was just a few days ago that a Republican lawmaker from South Carolina named Nancy Mace <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MattWalshBlog/videos/im-embarrassed-by-this-moment-from-nancy-mace/253191271140537/">invoked</a> the invented concept of &#8220;white privilege&#8221; in a congressional hearing. She was supposedly trying to put Hunter Biden in his place by saying that he&#8217;s the beneficiary of &#8220;white privilege,&#8221; because he can ignore subpoenas without suffering any consequences. But as I explained on the show at the time, all Nancy Mace did was legitimize the Left&#8217;s framing, which is fundamentally anti-white and fraudulent. Hunter Biden does not benefit from his skin color. He benefits from the fact he&#8217;s the son of the president of the United States. Everyone knows that.
So all Nancy Mace accomplished was reinforcing a false narrative that demonizes millions of white people, and accuses them of having unearned privilege simply because they were born with a certain skin color. She also derailed the entire hearing by allowing Democrats like AOC to harp on their own personal definitions of &#8220;white privilege.&#8221;
As counterproductive and idiotic as Nancy Mace&#8217;s stunt was, it does need to be said that it wasn&#8217;t that surprising. Nancy Mace isn&#8217;t exactly a staunch, far-right conservative. She raised money for Liz Cheney, came out in support of the so-called &#8220;LGBTQ movement,&#8221; and voted to hold former Trump adviser Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress. This is the track record of someone you might expect to adopt the Left&#8217;s narrative on &#8220;white privilege,&#8221; because she&#8217;s adopted so many of the Left&#8217;s other narratives.
The much bigger issue is that Nancy Mace is just one example of a larger problem in the Republican Party — one that affects politicians we&#8217;re told are considerably smarter, and more right-of-center, than Nancy Mace.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1297-ufc-fighter-delivers-a-masterclass-in-how-to-deal-with-the-media-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
Take Matt Gaetz, for example. Gaetz obviously doesn&#8217;t comply with the Left&#8217;s new speech codes. He publicly humiliated Mark Milley, who was the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff at the time, for teaching soldiers about &#8220;white rage.&#8221; He also led the effort to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy because he wasn&#8217;t sufficiently committed to the &#8220;America First&#8221; movement. All this is to say, Matt Gaetz is the last person you&#8217;d expect to pull a Nancy Mace and start adopting the Left&#8217;s framing on identity politics.
But this week, that&#8217;s exactly what Matt Gaetz did.
Appearing on Newsmax, Gaetz began talking about Donald Trump&#8217;s big win in the Iowa Caucuses. And he said that, based on his experience on the ground in Iowa, Trump is attracting more &#8220;diverse&#8221; voters, meaning voters who aren&#8217;t white. And Matt Gaetz presented this as a good thing. Here&#8217;s how he phrased it:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Matt Gaetz:
“For every Karen we lose, there’s a Julio and a Jamaal ready to sign up for the MAGA movement. That abodes well for our ability to be diverse and durable.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/fslOPui91c">pic.twitter.com/fslOPui91c</a>
&mdash; Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) <a href="https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1747995588627489024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
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“For every Karen we lose, there’s a Julio and a Jamaal ready to sign up for the MAGA movement.” If we decode the language there, Matt Gaetz is saying that in the freezing tundra of Iowa, he apparently didn&#8217;t see a lot of white women. But he did see tons of Hispanics and black people coming out for Donald Trump. They were presumably waving their MAGA flags around in the blizzard conditions or whatever.
Even if you pretend that&#8217;s true, which it clearly isn&#8217;t, the language Matt Gaetz used in that clip tells you a lot. No Republican, Matt Gaetz included, would ever dream of speaking this way about black voters in the reverse. You aren&#8217;t going to hear Gaetz say of black voters who don&#8217;t vote Republican (which is the vast majority): &#8220;Oh we don&#8217;t need those Jamals. We&#8217;ve got plenty of white people to take their place.&#8221; He&#8217;s only going to talk like that about white women, or &#8220;Karens,&#8221; as he calls them.
Here is a Republican who is even considered (wrongly, I think) to be &#8220;far right&#8221; who has entirely adopted the Left&#8217;s anti-white rhetoric and racial double standards. That&#8217;s how pervasive this stuff is. He&#8217;s happy to attack &#8220;Karens,&#8221; but he&#8217;d never do the same in reverse, because then he&#8217;d be called a racist. And he can&#8217;t have that.
The other remarkable thing about this clip is how it inverts all of the conservative arguments we&#8217;ve been hearing for the past several years. We went from Democrats denying that the Great Replacement was happening, to admitting it and saying it&#8217;s good, to Republicans also agreeing that it&#8217;s good and advocating for a Great Replacement in their own party. But along with being objectionable, this is also politically suicidal. It actually isn&#8217;t at all even close to true that for every white female voter Republicans lose, they&#8217;re replacing her with a black voter. White women still support Republicans in far, far greater numbers than black males. It&#8217;s not even close. As Ann Coulter has pointed out many times, the <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/21/trump-white-voters-support-418420">only group</a> Trump lost ground with in 2020 was white people — specifically <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-support-demographics-white-men-exit-poll-1545144">white men</a>. And yet Republicans have apparently decided that the key to victory is to pander for the minority vote while alienating their key constituency.
Whatever explains this self-defeating embrace of identity politics among conservatives, it&#8217;s definitely catching on. It&#8217;s not just Nancy Mace and Matt Gaetz doing it. In that same hearing where Nancy Mace talked about &#8220;white privilege,&#8221; Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed that Hunter Biden was afraid of her because she&#8217;s a strong, independent woman. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Rep. Greene: “Hunter Biden is terrified of strong, conservative Republican women … What a coward.&quot;" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2mS8AZNZXgg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
She actually said that, as if it was some kind of devastating insult. &#8220;He&#8217;s not afraid because he&#8217;s a criminal; he&#8217;s afraid because we&#8217;re girlbosses.&#8221; That&#8217;s the idea. It&#8217;s hard to think of a better way to torpedo the case against Hunter Biden than to use lines like this. When you have a strong case against someone, you don&#8217;t say they&#8217;re afraid because you&#8217;re a woman. You say they&#8217;re afraid because of the damning facts and evidence you&#8217;ve assembled. This is the exact opposite of what Republicans should have done in this hearing, but one after another, they did it. They kept commiting to these vapid displays of identity politics, over and over again.
And it&#8217;s not just confined to that one hearing, or to Matt Gaetz interviews. By now we&#8217;re all familiar at this point with Nikki Haley&#8217;s constant use of identity politics during this campaign. In case you somehow missed it, here&#8217;s a mercifully short clip to show you what I&#8217;m talking about:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Nikki Haley: &quot;If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.&quot;" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zSvQjFfW8-c?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Just like the remarks from Nancy Mace or Marjorie Taylor Greene or Matt Gaetz, this is totally indistinguishable from something AOC might say. It&#8217;s the most cliched form of gender politics imaginable. It&#8217;s not just stupid. It adopts the Left&#8217;s narrative that immutable characteristics — like skin color or gender — matter more than anything else. This is a narrative that has cost millions of people jobs, college admissions, contracting jobs, federal financial assistance, and so on. It has been a disaster for this country and it needs to stop. Instead of saying that, Republicans are embracing it. They&#8217;re reinforcing it at every opportunity.
Why is this happening? It&#8217;s possible that we&#8217;re seeing yet another cynical attempt to win over voters. Maybe that&#8217;s the explanation. But if that&#8217;s the case, it&#8217;s obviously a bad idea. You might remember that Donald Trump devoted years of his presidency to pushing something called &#8220;The First Step Act,&#8221; which Matt Gaetz promoted. The Trump team even ran a Super Bowl ad featuring a drug trafficker that Trump let out of prison. The idea, according to Trump&#8217;s inner circle, was to improve the GOP&#8217;s voting share among black Americans. Of course it didn&#8217;t work. Black voters in 2020 did what they&#8217;ve done in every modern election, which is vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. Trump got basically the same percentage of the black vote that George W. Bush did back in 2004. 
So if identity politics is a ploy for votes, it doesn&#8217;t seem likely to work. Identity politics from the Right doesn&#8217;t appear to convince anyone. But if you take a few steps back, it&#8217;s not hard to see that identity politics is just one part of a much larger problem among conservatives. Increasingly, conservatives are embracing the narratives of the Left, wholesale, even when they&#8217;re complete lies. We saw that when Nikki Haley mourned the death of George Floyd. She immediately bought the official narrative, and then she went on to say — as American cities were burning down — that George Floyd&#8217;s death needed to be &#8220;personal and painful for every American.&#8221; We also saw this from Mitt Romney, who marched with BLM, and even chanted their slogans. 
And just the other day, we saw something similar from Ron DeSantis at a CNN town hall. Watch as CNN&#8217;s Wolf Blitzer asks DeSantis a question that&#8217;s premised on a completely false narrative. And then notice that Ron DeSantis doesn&#8217;t push back at all:
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DeSantis wasn’t briefed on the border hoax?
He immediately assumes that CNN is telling the truth, when they were lying. Smearing innocent Texas who are defending this country and the border.
I can’t believe it. How did DeSantis not know this! 
 <a href="https://t.co/usjPlkYezY">pic.twitter.com/usjPlkYezY</a>
&mdash; Cernovich (@Cernovich) <a href="https://twitter.com/Cernovich/status/1747708528327033304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2024</a></blockquote>
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As Mike Cernovich pointed out on X, this is completely inexcusable. CNN is flat-out lying about what happened. And in response, maybe because no one briefed him on this, DeSantis just accepts the premise, which originated from the Biden White House, even though it was completely wrong. What happened is that the White House originally claimed that quote, &#8220;a woman and two children drowned near Eagle Pass, and Texas officials blocked U.S. Border Patrol from attempting to provide emergency assistance.” That was the report that millions of people heard from CBS News, which broadcast the narrative first.
But shortly afterwards, Joe Biden&#8217;s DOJ contradicted that version of events entirely. As Fox&#8217;s Bill Melugin pointed out, the DOJ made it clear that quote, &#8220;The migrants had already drowned at 8 p.m., and the Border Patrol didn’t inform Texas until an hour later at 9 p.m. &#8230; The DOJ now confirms, those migrants had been deceased for an hour before Texas was even alerted about it.&#8221;
<h4><a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a></h4>
So it&#8217;s just like the false claims that the Border Patrol had &#8220;whipped&#8221; illegal migrants, as Bill Melugin pointed out. The narrative is just a total lie, as the Biden administration itself admitted. But even after the DOJ admitted that, CNN asked Ron DeSantis about it on the debate stage. And everyone pretended it was true. It&#8217;s embarrassing for the DeSantis campaign, for CNN, and for everyone else involved in this moment. But even if the narrative were true — even if illegal migrants had died who could have been saved — it still wouldn&#8217;t mean anything. It would be one anecdote that doesn&#8217;t tell us anything about immigration policy more generally. But the point is that conservatives reflexively accept the version of events they&#8217;re given. They don&#8217;t define the narrative. They just play along with the narrative they&#8217;re given. The fact that it&#8217;s getting harder and harder to find exceptions to this rule is not a good sign for the modern conservative movement.
But the other day, we saw one of these rare exceptions, courtesy of UFC fighter Sean Strickland. Strickland is an American who just arrived in Toronto for the UFC fights this weekend. Here&#8217;s how he handled a member of the Canadian press, who tried to corner him with the same kind of dumb gotcha questions that you&#8217;ve heard a million times before. Watch:
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Idk who this guy is and I don&#39;t care but you&#39;re not a man&#8230; But you&#39;d take that as a compliment&#8230;.. <a href="https://t.co/PMR1h4Yp7K">pic.twitter.com/PMR1h4Yp7K</a>
&mdash; Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) <a href="https://twitter.com/SStricklandMMA/status/1747734279516250446?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2024</a></blockquote>
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How many conservative politicians could hold their ground in a situation like that, and affirm — in the face of an &#8220;ally&#8221; of the LBGTQIA+ community — that transgenderism is a mental illness? You could probably count the number on one hand, if that.
Notice how Sean Strickland doesn&#8217;t even remotely accept the premise of this hack&#8217;s questions. He doesn&#8217;t concede that he was wrong to speak his mind, or to think unapproved thoughts. Instead he immediately identifies the &#8220;reporter&#8221; as a propagandist and laughs in his face. And he reaffirms what he said before, because it&#8217;s what he believes is true. And then afterwards — at his second press conference in Toronto, after there had been a full media cycle about this, and Canada&#8217;s state press had labeled him a bigot — what did Sean Strickland do? Watch:
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Real Canadians love Sean Strickland. <a href="https://t.co/qRZiklCRAf">pic.twitter.com/qRZiklCRAf</a>
&mdash; Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) <a href="https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1748128877225124349?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
You can hear the crowd loves it. At one point a guy runs up to the stage to shake his hand. So he doesn&#8217;t back down, and everyone in the audience recognizes that and appreciates it. He makes a mockery of the people who wanted him to cower and apologize — and there were a lot of them in Canada, particularly in the media. He makes it clear that hate speech isn&#8217;t real, which is bold to say in Canada, where transphobia can get you charged with a crime. There you have a UFC fighter who&#8217;s a more vocal supporter of freedom of speech than pretty much any conservative politician in America. You won&#8217;t find him talking about &#8220;white privilege&#8221; or &#8220;strong conservative women.&#8221; This is what resonates now.
If the Republican Party wants to win elections, this is the path it needs to take. If they reject the Left&#8217;s obsession with skin color and gender and homosexuality, then voters will respond. We don&#8217;t need another &#8220;First Step Act,&#8221; or any pandering to stereotypes like Julio and Jamaal. We need politicians who are capable of acting like normal people.
If a UFC fighter can do it, there&#8217;s no reason the leaders of the Republican Party can&#8217;t.

UFC 297 Press Conference

UFC Fighter Delivers A Masterclass In How To Deal With The Media

Leftists

Matt Gaetz

Matt Walsh

Nancy Mace

I know a little bit about the kinds of speech that are generally welcomed on campus.
I’ve been banned from a few campuses, including DePaul University; I’ve spoken at more than a few campuses at which violence broke out over my speeches, including California State University at Los Angeles, Penn State, and University of California at Berkeley.
I also know that were I a student at any of these universities – and if I said, as a student, what I routinely say as a speaker – I’d undoubtedly be dragged before the administration and hit with sanctions. I’d be responsible for “microaggressions” by saying things like “Western culture is superior” and “men are not women.” I’d be responsible for “harmful language” for stating that human beings ought to be judged not based on race, but on merit. 
But apparently, at the top universities in America, all of those sensitivities disappear for one group in specific: Jews.
Yesterday, House Republicans held a hearing at which the heads of major universities were grilled regarding the rise of anti-Semitism on their campuses. We’ve been talking about that spike in anti-Semitism for weeks, from threats of violence to near-riots, from tearing down hostage posters to openly Jew-hating slurs.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1863-the-jew-hating-universities-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h4>
Some of the students from these universities explained the situation on campus, like. <a href="https://twitter.com/trishaposner/status/1732075865553457550" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bella Ingber</a> of New York University:
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Jewish college students are telling Congress today about the unrestrained <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/antisemitism?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#antisemitism</a> sweeping their campuses. I was particularly moved by Bella Ingber, a junior at <a href="https://twitter.com/nyuniversity?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nyuniversity</a>. Shame on NYU and other schools for their stunning failure to protect Jewish students. <a href="https://t.co/obWCeQxqL0">pic.twitter.com/obWCeQxqL0</a>
&mdash; Trisha Posner (@trishaposner) <a href="https://twitter.com/trishaposner/status/1732075865553457550?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2023</a></blockquote>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/RepRudyYakym/status/1732135552495808585" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eyal Yakoby</a> at the University of Pennsylvania described the calls for genocide of Jews and celebration of the Hamas massacre on October 7 as well as physical threats. 
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Eyal’s testimony is profound and shows how serious the problem of antisemitism on our colleges campuses is.
America’s elite colleges had an easy test the past two months: forcefully condemn antisemitism and speak out against vile hatred. 
Many of them have failed miserably. <a href="https://t.co/9MG0dEX3IY">https://t.co/9MG0dEX3IY</a>
&mdash; Congressman Rudy Yakym (@RepRudyYakym) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepRudyYakym/status/1732135552495808585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Now, imagine that black students had arrived in Congress to describe similar experiences: calls for genocide, celebration of terror attacks against black Americans, physical threats. Does anyone think the respective university presidents would have sat, grinning at the lawmakers quizzing them on their lack of action?
But that’s precisely what happened yesterday. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York questioned the presidents University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and MIT about genocidal language chanted on campus. <a href="https://twitter.com/RepStefanik/status/1732138663608271149" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Listen to their responses</a>.
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🚨🚨🚨Presidents of <a href="https://twitter.com/Harvard?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Harvard</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MIT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MIT</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/Penn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Penn</a> REFUSE to say whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” is bullying and harassment according to their codes of conduct. Even going so far to say it needs to turn to “action” first. As in committing genocide.
THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE AND… <a href="https://t.co/hUY3SgoOOi">pic.twitter.com/hUY3SgoOOi</a>
&mdash; Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepStefanik/status/1732138663608271149?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Listen to that obfuscation. Listen to the spin.
It is difficult to imagine that these icons of sensitivity and diversity, equity and inclusion would be nearly so sanguine about slurs against any other racial or ethnic minority in America.
Simply put, they wouldn’t.
One can make the case for free speech on campus – I can and I do – but one cannot pretend that universities protect students against harassment and then soft-pedal Holocaust-level rhetoric.
These university presidents don’t like free speech at all. But they’re perfectly fine not only mouthing language they certainly don’t believe about free speech, but smiling while they do it.
So, why are they so sanguine?
There are two reasons.
First, the Left – and university presidents are almost the Platonic ideal of intellectual Leftists – believes that Jews are not part of the intersectional coalition of the oppressed. By Leftist logic, Jews are part of the superstructure of power, since all success is merely a reflection of hierarchies of power, and Jews are disproportionately successful. Anti-Semitism is merely the ugliest guise for the oppressor/oppressed binary, but it isn’t the only one – just ask the newest white Americans, Asian Americans on university campuses, who have been deemed white because they score too high on their SATs, and thus are candidates for discrimination.
Then there’s the second reason: the Left hates Israel. The Left hates Israel because, like American Jews, Israel is too successful in the region in which it is located. Israel, according to the Left, is a colonialist outpost of the West, and the West is evil because it too is successful – which means that it is exploitative and oppressive. 
Hence the deep and passionate attempt by the Left to pretend that anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism are unrelated. The Left doesn’t want to be perceived as openly anti-Semitic, but they understand that anti-Zionism can provide a heartening opportunity to oppose Jewish and Western flourishing. 
Hence the Left’s rabid attachment to the idea that calls for Israel’s destruction are somehow not anti-Semitic, but actually a reflection of a more universalistic humanitarian creed. 
Sure, that creed would actually materialize in the death of millions of Jews  and the dominance of radical Muslim terrorism. But that doesn’t matter. After all, Israel is the real problem, because the West is the real problem – and we know that’s true because the West and Israel are successful. According to the Left, radical Muslim regimes that impoverish their citizens aren’t worth one bit of attention. Israel, by contrast, ought to be destroyed. 
That’s why yesterday, in a <a href="https://twitter.com/benjamin_bdj/status/1732070868589674707" target="_blank" rel="noopener">subtle bit of maneuvering</a>, Harvard President Claudine Gay acknowledged Israel’s right to exist – but not as a Jewish state. Which is like saying that Ireland has a right to exist, but not as an Irish country.
So, what ought to be done?
Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square and a major donor to Harvard, wrote that the college presidents “must all resign in disgrace. If a CEO of one of our companies gave a similar answer, he or she would be toast within the hour. Why has anti-Semitism exploded on campus and around the world? Because of leaders like Presidents Gay, Magill and Kornbluth who believe genocide depends on the context. To think that these are the leaders of Ivy League institutions that are charged with the responsibility to educate our best and brightest.”
He&#8217;s right, of course.
But that isn’t nearly sufficient.
The universities are corrupt through and through. Their endorsement of DEI has been a curse to reason and decency. Their politics are vile and those politics also make the universities corrupt factories of moral depravity.
Which means that first, every major donor to these universities should think about cutting funding. Of course, some of us were on this bandwagon years ago. I wrote a book titled Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth when I was 19; the book came out when I was 20, in 2004. In it, I wrote that conservatives ought to “pull money from universities,” but that such a tactic wouldn’t be nearly sufficient – that other sources, including radical Islamic regimes, would fill the gap.
And that means that universities ought to be hit with another tactic: businesspeople must stop falling for the credentialing scam that universities represent. They ought to be hiring bright kids out of high school directly and giving them internships, or hiring from solid state schools. 
<h4><a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a></h4>
Finally, parents need to seriously think about not sending their kids to these universities. They are indoctrination mills for truly immoral garbage. 
Want a case in point? How about young liberal Jews?
A whole generation of young Jewish kids have been sent to university by their parents, who believed in the upwardly mobile American dream. There, these kids were turned against their parents and their roots. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/05/us/jewish-american-israel-gaza-generation-gap.html">The New York Times</a> reports that many young Jews – meaning, of course, people who were born Jewish but have nothing to do with actual Jewish practice or identity, as even the Times recognizes – are abandoning Israel in the name of Leftist ideology. 
Here’s the Times: 
<blockquote>Marc Kornblatt prepared uneasily last month for his daughter, Louisa, to arrive for 10 days with the family. Her homecomings once brought the comfort of movie nights and card games, but this year was different….He and his wife, Judith, had moved away from Madison, Wis., to live in Tel Aviv, where they felt a real sense of belonging as Jews. Around the same time, their daughter, attending graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, came to oppose the existence of Israel as a Jewish state.</blockquote>
That daughter, unsurprisingly, “sometimes uses the pronouns they/them.” According to the Times, 
<blockquote>At Berkeley, she read Audre Lorde, Mariame Kaba, Ruth Wilson Gilmore and other Black feminist thinkers, who prompted her to consider ‘questions around power, privilege and whiteness.’ Ms. Kornblatt came to feel that her emotional ties to Jewish statehood undermined her vision for ‘collective liberation.’ Over the last year, she became increasingly involved in pro-Palestine activism, including through Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist activist group, and the If Not Now movement. ‘I don’t think the state of Israel should ever have been established,’ she said. ‘It’s based on this idea of Jewish supremacy. And I’m not on board with that.’</blockquote>
Actually, the concept of Israel is based on Jewish existence. But that’s really what Leftism opposes, for all the reasons listed.
Universities are a disaster area. Parents should pull their kids unless those kids are prepared for the raging hell-storm of foolishness and immorality they are about to be taught.

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The Jew-Hating Universities

Anti-Semitism

Harvard

Universities

University of Pennsylvania

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