Uncategorized – Page 39 – The Faithful Watchman

The World Is Completely Going Mad

As I was walking to my office to write this article, I quietly uttered the phrase “the world is completely going mad” to myself. Just about every form of evil that you can possibly imagine is exploding all around us, and now “war fever” is sweeping across the entire globe. Unfortunately, the people that want war are going to get exactly what they have been clamoring for, and the consequences are going to be extremely bitter.

When Hamas claimed that an Israeli airstrike destroyed a major hospital in Gaza and killed at least 500 people, mainstream media outlets all over the world immediately believed them and broadcast those “facts” to their unsuspecting audiences.

As a result, we saw absolutely massive riots erupt in Islamic countries.

But it wasn’t true.

What actually happened is that a rocket that was fired from a cemetery behind the hospital by terrorists from Islamic Jihad malfunctioned and landed in the parking lot of the hospital…

Instead, Israel says the fatal blast was the result of a failed rocket launched by Palestinian terrorists.

Two Hamas operatives were allegedly recorded saying the rocket was fired by another Palestinian terror group, Islamic Jihad.

And meanwhile, Israeli TV broadcast footage appeared to show a rocket barrage being fired over the hospital from within the Gaza Strip.

The Israelis even captured audio of two terrorists talking about this right after it took place.

When this evidence was shown to U.S. officials, they concluded that Israel was not responsible for the damage at the hospital…

“While we continue to collect information, our current assessment, based on analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open source information, is that Israel is not responsible for the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday,” said NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson.

Overall, approximately 30 to 40 percent of all Hamas rockets fail and land in the Gaza Strip…

There was no Israel Defence Forces (IDF) air activity reported at the time, and the timing coincided with a salvo of rockets launched at Israel.

About 30-40% of Hamas’ rockets misfire and land short in the Gaza Strip.

I don’t know how Hamas thought that they were going to get away with this lie.

Will Israel Use Nuclear Weapons Against Iran And Hezbollah?

Is it possible that the war in the Middle East could eventually go nuclear? If the fighting could have been limited to just Israel and Hamas, I think that there would have been a zero percent chance of Israel using nuclear weapons. But now it appears that Hezbollah, Syria, Iran and potentially other parties are likely to get involved too, and that means that Israel will literally be fighting a war of national survival. If it gets to a point where the Israelis think that they could potentially be overrun by their enemies, they aren’t going to leave their most powerful weapons on the shelf.

At this point, everyone knows that Israel has nukes.

According to Wikipedia, it has been estimated that Israel currently possesses somewhere between 80 and 400 warheads…

The State of Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons. Estimates of Israel’s stockpile range between 80 and 400 nuclear warheads,^[2]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9] and the country is believed to possess the ability to deliver them in several methods, including by aircraft, as submarine-launched cruise missiles, and via the Jericho series of intermediate to intercontinental range ballistic missiles.^[18]^[19] Its first deliverable nuclear weapon is thought to have been completed in late 1966 or early 1967; which would make it the sixth country in the world to have developed them.^[2]^[20]^[21]

And it appears that some Israeli leaders have been thinking about potentially using this arsenal.

When asked about Hezbollah entering the war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the terror group will be hit “with a force it cannot even imagine” if it does so…

Hezbollah will make “the mistake of its life” if it goes to war with Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned during a visit with soldiers near the country’s northern border with Lebanon.

“If Hezbollah decides to enter the war” the IDF hit it with such strength that “it will long for the Second Lebanon War,” Netanyahu said.

It will be hit “with a force it cannot even imagine” with devastating consequences for both the terror group and Lebanon which hosts it, he said.

Other than using nukes, how could Israel produce such an outcome?

Maxim Names Biological Male To ‘Hottest 100 Women’ List

Maxim magazine named a biological male and former Australian rules football player, Danielle Laidley, to its “Hottest 100 Women” list in Australia for 2023, with the trans-identifying man landing in the number 92 spot.

Laidley, who played and coached in the Australian Football League (AFL), joins actress Margot Robbie on the “Hot List,” who was named the hottest woman for the fourth time.

The magazine released the list on Wednesday and is being blasted not only for honoring a biological male in a list of hot women, but also because three years ago Laidley, who formerly went by the first name of Dean, was arrested for stalking, The Age noted.

In 2020, the Maxim honoree reportedly pleaded guilty to stalking after repeatedly making calls and sending text messages to a woman, also sitting in a car outside her home watching and photographing her, the outlet noted.

Laidley’s inclusion in Maxim’s list of hot women has also drawn criticism online from journalist Megyn Kelly, former female collegiate swimmer and women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines, and other conservative social media influencers.

“We ran out of women?” the host of “The Megyn Kelly Show” posted on X.

“#92 of top 100 hottest ‘women’ in the world according to Maxim magazine in Australia,” Gaines wrote. “How did we get to a point where companies/institutions/publications can do this with no fear of backlash?”

“He announced his transition after being arrested for stalking a woman in 2020….he was found guilty,” another account added.

U.S. Navy Shoots Down Drones, Missiles Fired By Iranian-Backed Terrorists In Yemen

The United States Navy shot down drones and cruise missiles fired by Iranian-backed terrorists in Yemen that officials say were potentially headed toward Israel.

The USS Carney, a destroyer, was sailing in the northern Red Sea when it detected and shot down three cruise missiles and multiple drones that were launched by the Houthis in Yemen.

“We cannot say for certain what these missiles and drones were targeting, but they were launched from Yemen heading north along the Red Sea, potentially towards targets in Israel,” said Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a spokesperson for the Department of Defense.

Ryder said that the U.S. Navy’s decision to shoot down the projectiles was part of “the integrated air and missile defense architecture that we built in the Middle East and that we are prepared to utilize whenever necessary to protect our partners and our interest in this important region.”

No one was hurt or killed during the incident.

The Trump administration designated the Houthis, also known as Ansarallah, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under the leadership of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The Biden administration quickly reversed the terrorist designation after taking over in 2021.

“These designations will provide additional tools to confront terrorist activity and terrorism by Ansarallah, a deadly Iran-backed militia group in the Gulf region,” Pompeo said in a statement at the time. “The designations are intended to hold Ansarallah accountable for its terrorist acts, including cross-border attacks threatening civilian populations, infrastructure, and commercial shipping.”

Biden quickly reversed the Trump administration’s terrorist designation on the Houthis just weeks after taking office because he reportedly wanted to “mitigate one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters,” according to the Associated Press.

Hamas Lied: Number Of Estimated Deaths At Gaza Hospital Hit By Rocket Lower Than Palestinian Claims, Reports Say

The Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry claimed earlier this week that Israel targeted a hospital in Gaza, dropped a bomb on it, and killed more than 500 people.

Democrats, legacy news publications, and notorious anti-Semitic propagandists instantly made the claims go viral Tuesday night on social media.

Every aspect of what the Palestinians claimed happened has effectively been debunked through evidence and refuted in statements released by Israeli officials, U.S. officials, and now European officials.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released evidence showing that the explosion was not caused by an aerial bomb and did not strike the hospital — it exploded in a parking lot. It also released intercepted communications from Hamas terrorists who said the explosion was caused by a rocket fired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

U.S. Intelligence later confirmed that it had “satellite and other infrared data showing a launch of a rocket or missile from Palestinian fighter positions within Gaza,” according to a report from The New York Times.

AFP reported that a European intelligence agency told the publication: “There wasn’t 200 or even 500 deaths, more likely between 10 and 50.”

AFP later reported that new estimates from the U.S. Intelligence Community paint the number of deaths at “far fewer” than what the Palestinians claimed.

A U.S. intelligence assessment viewed by the AFP said that the number of estimated deaths was at the “low end of the 100-to-300 spectrum.”

Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs official Lior Haiat said that an explosion from the Palestinian terrorist rocket tragically killed “several dozen people.”

Airlift Ordered By DeSantis Evacuates Another 200 Americans From Israel

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that an emergency airlift that he ordered brought home another 200 Americans from Israel following the unprecedented terrorist attacks that occurred in the country last weekend, which killed more than 30 Americans.

The announcement from the Republican presidential candidate comes after he signed an executive order directing Florida resources to help bring Americans home. He welcomed two flights earlier this week that brought home nearly 300 Americans.

“I’m happy to report we had another flight bringing Floridians back from Israel land in the wee hours of the morning,” DeSantis said in a video posted to X. “We’ve been able to help hundreds of people get back from the war zone safely to the United States, to the state of Florida.”

DeSantis highlighted the supplies that Florida donated to Israel, which the country received yesterday.

“And we’ve got another flight coming most likely tomorrow morning,” he added. “So, the federal government dragged its feet, a lot of those folks didn’t have any options. We stepped up, showed the leadership, and are delivering results.”

DeSantis announced on Tuesday that his administration sent two large planes containing 85 pallets of donated supplies.

Medical supplies that were donated included 735 ace bandages, approximately 5,000 hospital gowns, 84 IV kits, 30,000+ needles, 30,000+ syringes, 57 ventilators, and 10,000+ boxes of surgical gloves.

The TSA wants to put a government tracking app on your smartphone

Today the Identity Project submitted our comments to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on the TSA’s proposed rules for “mobile driver’s licenses”.

The term “mobile driver’s license” is highly misleading. The model Electronic Credential Act drafted by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) to authorize the issuance of these digital credentials and installation (“provisioning”) of government-provided identification and tracking apps on individual’s smartphones provides that, “The Electronic Credential Holder shall be required to have their Physical Credential on their person while operating a motor vehicle.”

So the purpose of “mobile driver’s licenses” isn’t actually licensing of motor vehicle operators, as one might naively assume from the name. Rather, the purpose of the “mobile drivers license” scheme is to create a national digital ID, according to standards controlled by the TSA, AAMVA, and other private parties, to be issued by state motor vehicle agencies but intended for use as an all-purpose government identifier linked to a smartphone and used for purposes unrelated to motor vehicles.

We’ve seen the ways that government-mandated tracking apps on citizens’ smartphones are used by the government of China, and that’s not an example we want the US to follow.

AAMVA’s website is more honest about the purpose and planned scope of the scheme: “The mobile driver’s license (mDL) is the future of licensing and proof of identity.”

As we note in our comments:

The fact that the TSA seeks to require the installation of a government app on a mobile device of a certain type suggests that the government has other purposes than mere “identification”, such as the ability to track devices as well as people. But we don’t know, because we haven’t been able to inspect the source code for any of these apps.

Most of the details of the TSA proposal remain secret, despite our efforts to learn them. So our comments focus on the unanswered questions about the proposal, the deficiencies in the TSA’s “notice”, and the TSA’s failure to comply with the procedural requirements for consideration of proposed regulations and for approval of collections of information from members of the public — which the TSA is already carrying out illegally, without notice or approval, with digital ID apps that state agencies are already installing on smartphones:

By this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) proposes to establish “standards” (which are not included in the NPRM and not available to the public) for a national digital ID to be used by Federal agencies in an unknown range of circumstances for unknown purposes (also not specified in the NPRM, and for which the notices and approvals required by law have not been provided or obtained).

The NPRM, which includes a proposal to incorporate by reference numerous documents which are not included in the NPRM and have not been made available to would-be commenters who have requested them, fails to provide adequate notice of the proposed rule or opportunity to comment on the undisclosed documents proposed to be incorporated by reference. It violates the regulatory requirements for incorporation by reference of unpublished material….

The proposed rule would also implicitly incorporate the Master Specification for State Pointer Exchange Services (SPEXS) published by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), which is not included or mentioned in the NPRM or publicly available and which AAMVA has actively attempted to remove from public availability….

The NPRM purports to include an analysis, pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), of “the information collection burdens imposed on the public,” and claims to have requested approval for these information collection from the the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). But both the NPRM and the request for OMB approval omit any mention of the collection of information from individuals that occurs each time a “mobile ID” is “presented” and an app on a mobile device interacts with TSA or other Federal agency devices or servers….

What data fields will be collected when a TSA or other Federal agency device interacts with a mobile ID app on an individual’s device? We don’t know. What code will an individual be required to allow to run on their device, and with what privileges? We don’t know, although this could be critical to the risks and potential costs to individuals if, for example, they are required to allow closed-source code to run on their devices with root privileges.

From which people, how many of them, in what circumstances, and for what purposes, will this information be collected? We don’t know, although all of this is required to be included in an application for OMB approval of a collection of information….

What will individuals be told about whether these collections of information are required? We don’t know this either, although this is a required element of each PRA notice, because the TSA provides no PRA notices to any of those individuals from whom it collects information at its checkpoints, including information collected from mobile IDs.

As the TSA itself has argued in litigation, no Federal statute or regulation requires airline passengers to show ID. And hundreds of people pass through TSA checkpoints and board flights without showing ID every day. An accurate submission to OMB, and an accurate PRA notice (if approved by OMB), would inform all individuals passing through TSA checkpoints that ID is not required for passage. But instead of providing OMB-approved PRA notices at its checkpoints in airports, the TSA has posted or caused to be posted knowingly false signage claiming that all airline passengers are “required” to show government-issued ID credentials. Individuals incur substantial costs as a result of these false notices, particularly when individuals without ID forego valuable travel in reliance on deliberately misleading signs that ID is required.

Where did this TSA proposal come from? In 2021, the TSA’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), published a request for information about mobile IDs from potential vendors and other interested parties.

Toy Companies Intentionally Altering the Psychology of Children

‘We just need to educate parents and educators just a little bit to know that we could be using their play time a little bit intentionally…’

As more children emerge from the COVID lock-downs grappling with mental health issues, their parents are seeking ways for them to recover.

Toy companies are paying close attention.

A growing number of toy marketers are embracing the psychological jargon of MESH. It stands for mental, emotional and social health. MESH is a designation for toys that claim to teach kids skills like how to adjust to new challenges, resolve conflict, advocate for themselves, or solve problems.

The acronym was first used in child development circles and by the American Camp Association 10 years ago and gained new resonance after the lockdowns.

Rachele Harmuth, head of ThinkFun, a division of toy company Ravensburger, and resilience expert and family physician Deborah Gilboa, formed a MESH taskforce earlier this year with the goal of getting manufacturers to design toys with emotional health in mind and to have retailers market them accordingly.

“We just need to educate parents and educators just a little bit to know that we could be using their play time a little bit intentionally,” Gilboa said.

The plan is to certify MESH toys by mid-2024 the same way the Toy Association did for STEAM toys, which emphasize science, tech, engineering, arts, and math. Adrienne Appell, a spokeswoman at the Toy Association, notes that MESH is an area it will continue to monitor as it evolves.

The concept was highlighted at the toy industry’s recent four-day annual show in New York, which featured an abundance of toys from the likes of hand2mind and Open the Joy that encourage children to express their feelings with mirrors or puppets.

Bible-reading Pentagon commanders halted UFO research ‘over fears aliens were demons’

A major figure in the Pentagon’s UFO research agency claims that fundamentalist Christians within the establishment blocked him because they thought UFOs came from Hell

Pentagon commanders have clamped down on research into extraterrestrials because of their religious beliefs, it’s claimed.

Leading UFO researcher Ron James says senior figures in the US government fear aliens are in fact demons. Ron, who is Director of Media Relations for UFO research group MUFON, claims there is “a very large contingent of people” within the Pentagon who opposed the work of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program [AATIP] because they think the UAPs regularly reported by US military sources are piloted by creatures from Hell.

He says he was told by Luis Elizondo, who has gone on record as being the boss of AATIP, it “was not just a little voice in The Pentagon…but a huge group of people thought the phenomenon that was being witnessed was demons”.

This fundamentalist Christian lobby within the US defence establishment “actually affected Elizondo’s ability to get funding, “ Ron says. Belief in both UFOs and the literal truth of the Bible is not entirely incompatible, he adds.

Iran Warns Israel of a ‘Huge Earthquake’ If It Attacks Gaza

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made a stop in Beirut on his tour of the Middle East and promptly raised the temperature in the region, threatening to unleash Hezbollah on Israel if the IDF carries out its threatened ground assault on Gaza. Amir-Abdollahian said he met Friday with Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and discussed various scenarios that could take place.

“I know about the scenarios that Hezbollah has put in place,” Amir-Abdollahian said. “Any step the resistance (Hezbollah) will take will cause a huge earthquake in the Zionist entity.”

“I want to warn the war criminals and those who support this entity before it’s too late to stop the crimes against civilians in Gaza, because it might be too late in [a] few hours,” he added.

Hezbollah has about 100,000 men under arms, but only about 15,000 are highly trained shock troops. These are the battle-scarred veterans of the Syrian civil war — the Radwan Force. The rest are cannon fodder who would be sacrificed in any war against Israel, protecting the trained fighters.

Similarly, Hezbollah’s 150,000 missiles and rockets are mostly highly inaccurate Grad rockets — the same kind of rockets Hamas fired into Israel at the start of the war. But Hezbollah also sports several hundred deadly accurate Iranian Shabab missiles and sophisticated anti-tank missiles that many Middle East experts say might be a “game changer” if Hezbollah were to go “all in” in a war against Israel.

Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas may very well have decided that this is the moment that calls for maximum effort to humble Israel. The images of hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the streets protesting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reforms, the dysfunction of the U.S. Congress, the age and infirmity of the U.S. president, and the distraction of the war in Ukraine have combined to — possibly — embolden Iran to let slip their Hezbollah and Hamas dogs of war.

On the other hand, Iran itself is weak and unstable. Its military is a shell of its former self with aging American equipment mixed in with some modern Russian weaponry.

Any attack by Hezbollah will almost certainly force Israel to attack Iran. And given the domestic unrest in Iran, the mullahs would be insane to provoke a war with Israel.

A more likely scenario is Hezbollah continuing to launch a few rockets at Israel, more in solidarity with Hamas than any attempt to provoke Israel into a war.

So the Iranian Foreign Minister’s meeting with both Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah and the UN envoy to the Middle East Tor Wennesland was mostly for show. And his threats were as empty as Iran’s promises.