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Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Hamas Releases 12 More Hostages on Fifth Day of Ceasefire; No Americans Freed

Associated Press: Hamas and Israel released more hostages and prisoners under terms of a fragile cease-fire that held for a fifth day Tuesday as international mediators in Qatar worked to extend the truce and the United States urged Israel to better protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza if it follows through on its promise to resume the war. CIA director William Burns and David Barnea, who heads Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, were in Qatar, a key mediator with Hamas, to discuss extending the cease-fire and releasing more hostages, a diplomat said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks (Associated Press). Fox News: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Tuesday night that the 12 newly-released hostages are currently inside Israeli territory (Fox News). CBS: In exchange, 30 Palestinians were released from Israeli prisons — 15 minors and 15 women, Dr. Majed Al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said. None of the hostages released Tuesday were American (CBS). Seth Leibsohn: Several tranches of hostages have now been released by Hamas, only one an American. One. This is a thumb in the eye of America and Americans, resultant from weak and mis-prioritized American leadership. We’re heading down a road that leads, very clearly, to the loss of more innocent life. It is, bluntly speaking, a posture of weakness (Townhall Review).

Hamas Breaks Ceasefire Agreement by Attacking IDF Troops

Katie Pavlich: Iranian backed terrorist group Hamas, which is still holding hundreds of innocent civilians hostages in the Gaza Strip, broke an extended ceasefire agreement with the Israeli government on Tuesday. The attacks come after the two sides agreed to a two-day ceasefire extension on Monday in exchange for additional hostages. The original ceasefire agreement was four days, starting on Friday (Townhall). IDF: Over the last hour, 3 explosive devices were detonated adjacent to IDF troops in 2 different locations in northern Gaza, violating the framework of the operational pause. In one of the locations, terrorists also opened fire at the troops, who responded with fire. A number of soldiers were lightly injured during the incidents. IDF troops were located in positions as per the framework of the operational pause (X). Author Hen Mazzig: During the ceasefire, Hamas has: 1. Fired rockets at Israeli civilians. 2. Detonated three bombs targeting IDF troops. 3. Opened fire on Israeli soldiers. 4. Violated the conditions of the hostage-for-prisoners deal by refusing to release mothers and their children together. 5. Denied the Red Cross permission to visit the hostages or provide them with medication. 6. Refused to release the youngest baby from captivity.v7. Held over 170 innocent civilians in captivity, subjecting them to minimal food and torture. Remember, this is what Hamas considers a ceasefire (X).

GOP Moves to Designate Houthi Rebels as Terror Organization

This after Biden had removed the group from a formal listing as a terror organization. Free Beacon: Senate Republicans are moving on legislation that would redesignate the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen as a terrorist organization, citing the group’s weekend missile attacks on a U.S. warship as an alarming escalation. The legislation—led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and six Republican colleagues—will be introduced this week and will reapply all sanctions on the Houthis that were lifted in 2021 when the Biden administration took office and removed the Iran-sponsored rebel group from the U.S. terror list. Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, Iranian proxies in the region have escalated their operations, launching dozens of strikes on U.S. assets in the area. The Houthis are responsible for a spate of missile attacks on U.S. and Israeli positions during the past several weeks, including a weekend ballistic missile strike aimed at an American warship in the Gulf of Aden. Cruz and other Republicans attempted to reapply sanctions on the Houthis early last year but that effort did not pass the Democrat-controlled body (Free Beacon). Abe Hamadeh: Last month I called on the State Department to re-designate the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization after they fired missiles towards our ally Israel — now they’ve attempted to attack our sailors. Re-designate them as terrorists NOW (X). Rich Grenell: Joe Biden removed the Houthis from the Terror Watch List. The Houthis are now firing on America and Jake Sullivan hasn’t put them back on the list. Biden’s weakness is making us less safe (X).

U.S. Has Provided Over 54,000 Pounds of Aid to Gaza Since Ceasefire

Hill: The U.S. said it had delivered more than 54,000 pounds of humanitarian supplies to Gaza on Tuesday as a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas was extended amid prisoner releases. The ceasefire has provided a window for humanitarian efforts in the small territory, where people have been running out of fuel, water and food amid bombing by Israel. Gaza is controlled by Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government (Hill). Just the News: While Israel maintains it plans to resume hostilities when the deal expires, international organizations including the United Nations have increasingly called for a permanent ceasefire. In late October, the U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire. In the United States, domestic protests have materialized in Washington, including one demonstration that saw advocates for a ceasefire stage a sit-in at a congressional office building on Capitol Hill (Just the News).

Gavin Newsom Announces $300 Million Effort to Clean Up Homelessness

Washington Examiner: Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) announced millions in grant money to help local and state agencies clean up homeless encampments near California roads. The Democratic governor said nearly $300 million will go to local jurisdictions, and the other half will go to Caltrans, the state’s Department of Transportation, to sweep camps on state property such as highways, bike paths, and parks, while assisting the homeless in finding other places to live. “We’ve got to move, people are counting on us,” Newsom said in a news briefing on Monday. “The public has had it, they’re fed up, I’m fed up, we’re all fed up” (Washington Examiner). Fox News: In April 2020, Newsom announced a new initiative called Project Roomkey, which forced homeless individuals into 10,974 hotel and motel rooms and 1,133 trailers. Sacramento mandated these private businesses, most of them already under tremendous duress from the pandemic’s impact on travel and tourism, swap potential paying customers for people who exhibit high rates of drug use, mental health issues, and often have zero income. In September 2020, the governor announced another $62 million in grants for counties to help them transition more people into permanent housing, including $35 million to pay for rental subsidies. Once again, he shoveled taxpayer money into a doomed program. Guess who benefited? No surprise: it was the cronies running the system. In December 2020, The Real Deal, an L.A.-based real estate publication, broke the news that a hotel in Downtown L.A. was receiving Project Roomkey funding. The hotel’s owner, Shenzhen New World Group, was implicated in an elaborate pay-to-play scandal involving former L.A. City Councilmember Jose Huizar. Shenzhen New World and its chairman, Wei Huang, were indicted on Nov. 30 on racketeering charges (Fox News).

D.C. Spends Hundreds of Thousands to Refurbish “Black Lives Matter Plaza” Paint

Washington Examiner: Taxpayers in Washington are footing the bill for a $270,000 paint job to refresh “Black Lives Matter Plaza” as violent crime in the district has spiked 40% since last year. The move to repaint the anti-police street art, which features 50-foot yellow letters along two blocks of 16th Street outside the White House, comes as the district has implemented millions in budget cuts to the Metropolitan Police Department over the past several years and crime has skyrocketed. Zack Smith, a crime and justice expert at the Heritage Foundation said, “If the city council and the mayor’s office are serious about combating violent crime, protecting the lives hopefully of all citizens, but particularly black lives, then they would pour more money into public safety — particularly putting more police officers on the street.” A large share of the 40% increase in violent crime comes from the 34% increase in homicides in Washington over last year, according to data released Monday. Robbery increased by 68% in the same time period. In addition to violent crime, carjackings are up 93%, with thousands more instances occurring since last year (Washington Examiner).

Largest School District in Arizona Guiding Students on How to Hide Gender Transition from Parents

Just the News: Arizona’s largest school district is flouting state law and its own governing board by covertly instructing students how to assert a different gender identity at school without their parents knowing and hiding evidence of its misdeeds, according to an outspoken member of the board. Former President Trump aide Stephen Miller’s America First Legal is representing Rachel Walden in her Maricopa County Superior Court lawsuit against Mesa Public Schools and Superintendent Andi Fourlis, which alleges they schemed to circumvent the Arizona Parents’ Bill of Rights after the community learned it was blocking parental notification. Walden also claims the board “never voted to adopt or authorize” the contested gender transition policy, whose heading is dated August 2015, “or any of its constituent elements,” which additionally determine access to restrooms, locker rooms, field trips, “overnight trips” and “gendered activities” such as sports. While the transgender policy created eight years ago initially required parental consent, it was revised at some point to be “explicit and in writing” that students can veto even notification, according to the suit (Just the News).

Border Patrol Agents Overwhelmed in Arizona, Close Checkpoints, Pause Social Media Efforts

Townhall: Border Patrol agents are completely overwhelmed in southern Arizona as massive groups of thousands turn themselves in for processing after making false asylum claims. In fact, Tucson Border Sector Chief John Modlin announced over the weekend that the social media team was being pulled to help with the influx (Townhall). Bill Melugin: Per CBP source, Border Patrol’s Tucson, AZ sector saw a staggering 2,800+ illegal crossings yesterday alone. Agents there are completely overrun. CBP is pulling personnel from local ports of entry to help, BP there is pausing their social media, & multiple BP highway checkpoints are closed – which are crucial to catch fentanyl smugglers who make it past the ports of entry (X). Reporter Ali Bradley: The Border Patrol checkpoint is also closed outside of Lukeville where the influx is currently happening—CBP says it is taking an “all hands on deck” posture to respond to the thousands of migrants crossing daily (X).

As Jeff Bezos Moves to Florida, Amazon Looking to Follow

New York Post: Amazon is reportedly eyeing more office space in Miami after Jeff Bezos announced earlier this month that he’d be leaving his longtime Seattle home and decamping to the Sunshine State. The e-commerce behemoth is seeking roughly 50,000 square feet of office space, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed. The search began before Bezos revealed last month that he’d be ditching his Seattle digs, located just 10 miles from Amazon’s headquarters. The company already has more than 400 corporate and tech workers who are assigned to offices in the Miami area. Overall, the company has quite the presence in Florida, with 85 designated facilities in the state and at least two dozen more either planned or under construction (New York Post). Axios: Other billionaires are also relocating to Miami. These include Eric Schmidt, the former chair and CEO of Google, and Republican megadonor Ken Griffin — who last year moved the global headquarters of his hedge fund giant, Citadel, to the city from Chicago (Axios).

10.

Media Tries to Claim Child is Racist for Painting His Face for an NFL Game

Spencer Brown: When will the liberal media learn? It’s an evergreen question because they never do. This time around, Deadspin is the perpetrator of a race hoax targeting a literal child who was just trying to enjoy a night out at a Kansas City Chiefs game, and senior writer Carron Phillips has already doubled down on his smear amid justified blowback for his story. “The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, native headdress,” was Phillips’ story on Deadspin, run with a side profile photo of a young boy with black paint on his face. Phillips conveniently avoided using a photo of the fan’s full face which other photos show was painted half in black and half in red — two colors on the Chiefs’ insignia. Apparently, pesky facts got in the way of his desired narrative that a white kid showed up to a Chiefs game in blackface (Townhall). Libs of TikTok: Why is Deadspin’s Carron Phillips trying to ruin this little kid’s life? They’re accusing him of blackface but conveniently left out his full face which was painted for the game (X). ALX: The media is really trying to smear a child over this. The author of this piece is Carron Phillips. What a bully. Shame on you Deadspin (X). MRCTV: Clearly having been called out for his deception and general stupidity, Phillips doubled down on his stance, claiming that wearing both red and black wasn’t a sign that the kid was merely supporting his team through their colors, but instead meant he – this young child here – was deliberately targeting two separate ethnicities for insult (MRCTV).