Terror on Bourbon Street on New Year’s; At Least 15 Dead

Attacker “hell-bent” on carnage; ISIS flag on the rented pickup truck (NOLA). Fox News: The suspect accused of mowing down a crowd of New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans early Wednesday has been identified as Shamsud Din Jabbar, Fox News Digital has confirmed. Jabbar is a 42-year-old resident of Houston, Texas. Police shot and killed him after he crashed his pickup truck and began to shoot at officers. A Glock handgun and .308 caliber rifle equipped with optics and a sensor were recovered from the crime scene, according to a high-level source familiar who was not authorized to discus details of the investigation publicly (Fox News). FBI: An ISIS flag was located in the vehicle, and the FBI is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations. Weapons and a potential IED were located in the subject’s vehicle. Other potential IEDs were also located in the French Quarter. The FBI’s special agent bomb technicians are working with our law enforcement partners to determine if any of these devices are viable, and they will work to render those devices safe (FBI). The Sugar Bowl has been postponed. CBS Sports: In the wake of a New Year’s attack on Bourbon Street that resulted in at least 15 deaths, the scheduled Sugar Bowl matchup for Wednesday night has been postponed, New Orleans district attorney Jason Williams told CBS’s WWL-TV. The College Football Playoff quarterfinal game between 2-seed Georgia and 7-seed Notre Dame is now scheduled to be played Thursday, Jan. 2 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans (CBS).

One Dead After Cybertruck Explosion Outside Trump Hotel in Vegas

Las Vegas Review Journal: One person was killed and seven suffered minor injuries when a Tesla Cybertruck exploded in front of the entrance to Trump International Hotel Wednesday morning, Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference. The person who died was in the Cybertruck, and McMahill said it was unclear if it was a man or a woman. McMahill said police were told the truck pulled up to the hotel entrance and emitted smoke, which was followed by a large explosion. The hotel was evacuated and many guests went to Resorts World, he said. According to a spokesperson for Clark County, two people were hospitalized (Las Vegas Review Journal). Elon Musk: The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards. Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken (X). Footage (X).

Pro-Terror Protestors Take to Streets in New York City; A Fight for Western Civilization

Guy Benson: A jihadist just committed a lethal terrorist attack in one American city — and terrorism supporters are marching in another one, hours later (X). Scott Jennings: We are in a fight for the future of Western Civilization whether we want it or not. And we better rise to the occasion (X). New York Congressman Ritchie Torres (D): These protestors in NYC are marching not to condemn the ISIS terrorist attack against their own country but to falsely accuse their own country, as well as Israel, of terrorism. The hatred for America and Israel far exceeds the hatred for actual terror, apartheid, and genocide in the world. For an ideologue, ideology has more reality than reality itself (X).

Late-Released Photos Photos Confirm Hunter Biden’s Chinese “Business” Connections

New York Post: The National Archives has finally released photos showing then-Vice President Biden meeting with two of first son Hunter Biden’s Chinese government-linked business partners — again proving that the president lied about not interacting with his family’s foreign patrons. The photos, released long after their potential political salience and days before Biden retires on Jan. 20, also show Chinese President Xi Jinping grinning as then-Vice President Biden introduced his son during the same December 2013 trip to Beijing (New York Post).

The God Question Is Back

After the rise of the New Atheists and the messaging from them that religion itself was a sort of toxin, the bold claims of the Four Horsemen have been found wanting, unable to answer life’s greatest questions and mankind’s deepest longings. No, not all have become orthodox Evangelicals or conservative Catholics, but there’s no question: The conversation has shifted. Peter Savodnik: something profound is happening. Instead of smirking at religion, some of our most important philosophers, novelists, and public intellectuals are now reassessing their contempt for it. They are wondering if they might have missed something…. There is something inevitable about this reassessment, Jonathan Haidt, the prominent New York University psychologist and best-selling author, told me. “There is a God-shaped hole in every human heart….” Later: I can tell you that the tech geniuses and media personalities and celebrities who once embodied the new atheism are rethinking what we lose when we lose religion (Free Press). Ayaan Hirsi Ali from earlier last year: I have also turned to Christianity because I ultimately found life without any spiritual solace unendurable—indeed very nearly self-destructive. Atheism failed to answer a simple question: What is the meaning and purpose of life? Russell and other activist atheists believed that with the rejection of God, we would enter an age of reason and intelligent humanism. But the “God hole”—the void left by the retreat of the church—has merely been filled by a jumble of irrational, quasi-religious dogma….The line often attributed to G.K. Chesterton has turned into a prophecy: “When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything” (Free Press).

Homelessness Crisis Soars Under Biden: Up 18 Percent 2023 to 2024

This from the report released late last month from HUD The short of it: Homelessness up 18 percent 2023 to 2024 and up 36 percent since 2019. Wall Street Journal points to the heart of the matter: Most of the increase in what HUD calls “chronic homelessness” owes to mental illness and drug abuse, which the report fails to mention, if you can believe it. This is obvious to anyone who walks past an urban homeless encampment, or for that matter any street in certain neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Progressives ignore such clear social ills and instead call for more spending on low-income housing. But such “housing first” policies have failed, as demonstrated by the rising number of homeless in progressive states (Wall Street Journal). Just the News: Roughly 75% of the unsheltered homeless population have a drug or alcohol addiction, and 78% have a severe mental illness, according to data collected by the Cicero Institute (Just the News). The report itself admits that matters may well be even worse: This report reflects data collected a year ago and likely does not represent current circumstances, given changed policies and conditions (HUD). Economist: Between 2023 and 2024 homelessness increased by 18%, to roughly 771,000 people. That is nearly as many people as live in North Dakota. The vast majority of the uptick comes from people living in shelters—picture hotel rooms or rows of cots—rather than sleeping rough, as is common on the West Coast and in some southern states. The report’s most shocking revelation is a 39% rise in family homelessness year-on-year—a reversal of a slow but steady decline in the years preceding the covid-19 pandemic (Economist).

Whistleblower on Havana Syndrome: “It's a coverup and it's terrifying and it should be terrifying to all Americans”

Catherine Herridge reports: CIA whistleblower alleges government cover up with Havana Syndrome victims now suffering from cancer, dementia and Parkinson’s disease. Herridge: After so many years of quiet advocacy, why come forward now? CIA Whistleblower: Because the CIA is betraying and not just betraying, but making friends of mine and my life a living hell. I want them to stop. I want them to stop hurting my friends. I want them to stop denying what is happening to us (X). Daily Mail: Alice said the CIA has been gaslighting her and other AHI survivors in the years since by making them ‘question our own injuries’. ‘We swore this oath and every day I watch them really continue to deny people’s humanity and their injuries,’ she told Herridge. ‘People that put themselves and their families on the line in horrible, horribly dangerous places and situations to protect this country.’ Speaking about the intelligence agencies, she added: ‘If they’re politicizing this, what else are they not telling the president?’ ‘It’s a coverup and it’s terrifying and it should be terrifying to all Americans’ (Daily Mail).

Sorting Through the Legacy of Jimmy Carter

With the nation’s 39^th president dead at the age of 100 on December 29, many have been sorting through the mixed legacy of the man: Traits many saw as admirable in his personal life juxtaposed with his dismal record as president. This, along with vocal expression of his sincere Christian faith that was lacking biblical conviction and doctrinal fidelity. Albert Mohler: Carter spoke of the change in his understanding of moral issues like abortion and homosexuality and told me, “I know what I’ve just explained to you might be somewhat controversial, but it’s the way I feel.” Just three years later, he told another interviewer, “I believe Jesus would approve same-sex marriage.” Seriously. Carter revealed an inordinate confidence in how he personally felt and how he personally imagined Jesus—while rejecting the clear teachings of Scripture (World). Tevi Troy: One of Carter’s primary weaknesses as a leader was that he had a hard time distinguishing between friends and enemies. Perhaps this fault explains why, after he left the White House, Carter gained a reputation as an ex-president for coddling dictators, whether in Haiti, Syria, or North Korea. He may have seen Reagan as a simpleton, with his clear and confident foreign policy that rewarded friends and sought to confound enemies, but voters didn’t share that view. In 1984, when Reagan accepted the GOP nomination again, he told Americans that his priorities would not change in a second term: “Our policy is simple: we are not going to betray our friends, reward the enemies of freedom or permit fear and retreat to become American policies.” This time, running against Walter Mondale, Carter’s former vice president, Reagan did even better, winning 49 states (City Journal). Economist: As someone who had experienced poverty and failed harvests, his uncomplicated aim was to help those in need; but he never found a consistent strategy for doing so while in office (Economist).

Israel Releases Details on High-Stakes Commando Raid in Syria

The operation in September targeted and Iranian missile production facility. YNET: This past September, reports emerged worldwide about an extraordinary IDF commando operation in Syria. During the mission, commando troops raided and destroyed an Iranian missile production facility used by Hezbollah in Masyaf, located in Syria’s Hama province. The world marveled at the operation, which involved landing Israeli forces deep inside Syrian territory, dozens of miles from the border. The commandos not only demolished the facility but also extracted significant intelligence material from it. However, the operation was met with official silence in Israel. Now, nearly four months later, the IDF has detailed the sequence of events during the raid. “This was one of the most daring and riskiest commando operations the IDF has conducted outside the country in recent years — heroic, high-risk and meticulously planned by the Israeli Air Force,” an official said. “The operation achieved its objective: neutralizing a critical strategic capability of Iran in Syria, located dozens of kilometers from Israel” (YNET). Rayan Givens: The commandos fast-roped from IAF helicopters, eliminated dozens of guards and terrorists, and destroyed the center with explosives from the inside. Within a short time, the forces boarded helicopters back to Israel and the operation was successfully completed (X).

Senior Iranian Quds Force Commander Threatens Trump

Jerusalem Post: Iranian Brigadier-General Iraj Masjedi, a senior commander in the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, threatened US President-elect Donald Trump in Wednesday’s comments to reporters, calling for Trump to suffer “revenge” and “be prosecuted” for ordering the assassination of Qassem Soleimani. Soleimani was “a symbol and key figure in the fight against terrorists,” Masjedi said, and “by carrying out this assassination, Trump did the greatest service to the terrorist movement.” Masjedi’s remarks come two days before the fifth anniversary of the American strike on Soleimani, who served as the chief of the IRGC’s Quds Force. “The US president assassinated an Iranian saint. A man who was a symbol and a major force in the war on terror,” Masjedi added. Earlier on Wednesday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei eulogized the former Quds Force commander in a meeting with families of “martyrs, veterans, and resistance activists,” Iranian state media IRNA reported (Jerusalem Post).

A New Year Begins and the Bald Eagle Is Officially Our National Bird

CNN: An overdue honor (CNN). Eli Federman: When the Founding Fathers considered designs for a national emblem after the Declaration of Independence, they considered depictions of Moses parting the Red Sea and the children of Israel in the desert. In 1782 they chose a bald eagle, clutching in its talons an olive branch and arrows—biblical symbols of peace and war. In the media coverage surrounding the eagle last week, our national bird’s religious significance was overlooked. The Bible mentions the eagle at least 30 times, including in Exodus, Deuteronomy, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Hosea, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Samuel and Revelations. Isaiah 40:31 declares: “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.” Exodus 19:4 describes God carrying the Israelites “on eagles’ wings…”  The eagle offers us more than a patriotic emblem. Its sharp vision urges us to focus on what matters. Its flight challenges us to rise above obstacles. Its nest reminds us of the importance of building strong foundations for future generations. In a world grappling with division, the eagle calls us to rise above turmoil, find clarity and soar toward the promise of something great (Wall Street Journal).