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Kansas Energy Freedom Now!

By Sherri Lange | Master Resource | November 3, 2023

Nixing the Mandates in Kansas: Representative Carrie Barth (R-Dist 5) and former House Energy and Environment Chair, Dennis Hedke, reach astounding consensus on Energy Resolution: 180 to 1. There will be no energy “victims” in this state.

I don’t believe I am the typical politician. I don’t care about a political career or political threats. I care about doing the right thing. I care about people. Period! (- Rep Carrie Barth in an email, October 9 2023)

Carrie Barth (R-Kansas, District 5) and Dennis Hedke, unapologetic supporter of the U.S. Constitution, acclaimed author of The Audacity of Freedom (2011), geophysicist, and former member Kansas House of Representatives (former Chair of the House Energy Committee), have drafted a clean and accurate Resolution for the Republican Party. This passed with overwhelming support. It appears to acknowledge that wind is not a good corporate citizen.

Representative Barth in an email:

Our Constitution of the United States gives the power to the people and states, not a dictator movement to control people. The “Green Agenda” is a joke. What they call green energy of wind and solar is anything but green other than it takes a lot of money to mine, build and construct, maintenance for the units, along with remediation when blades break off and the turbines catch on fire. It takes more green money from there to then build transmission lines that take people’s green land when eminent domain is used. Then people see transmission line tariffs on their energy bills. Oh, and wait, your rates never go down even though the energy industry tells you how cost effective it is. 

I would refer to wind and solar as “brown or black energy”. They are unreliable and cause brownouts and blackouts. This hurts people, it hurts businesses, and even the ground under them turns brown.

Dennis Hedke added in an email:

The United States of America, and now by default, the rest of the world, have been seriously misinformed since the SCOTUS made a very serious error in 2009, via Massachusetts v. EPA. They allowed the EPA to falsely transform the innocent, trace atmospheric gas, CO2, into a pollutant. Nothing could possibly be further from the truth. As a result, Trillions of Dollars have been wasted, people in 3rd and 4th World countries have been deprived of the most fundamentally necessary power to turn on the lights, and be released from poverty and join the rest of the civilized world.

Excerpts from the Resolution follow:

Kansas Republican Party Resolves to Support Candidates and Legislative Intent to Protect Kansans from Unreliable and Foreign-Sourced ‘Renewable’ Wind and Solar Energy

For your easy reference:

  • CO2 is not a dangerous gas, nor a pollutant, to be avoided and scare mongered.
  • The Kansas Republican Party Platform opposes efforts to force communities to engage in sustainable development guidance from the federal government or the United Nations, which are actively attacking our local communities in an effort to implement the Paris Climate Agreement
  • Kansas is not to be victimized by lobbyists guiding KS into blackouts and profiteering from subsidies, and alliances with the UN Global Agenda
  • Kansas (Republican Party) supports alternative energy, while continuing to support oil and gas reserves within the State
  • Kansas will prefer reliable and affordable energy above all
  • Kansas (Republican Party)  will reject the “UN Agenda 2030 “Sustainable Development Goals” to guide their investments in Kansas, even rewarding executives and directors with additional bonuses and stock options for implementing the global climate plan”
  • Kansas (Republican Party) will reject energy projects that are obvious land grabs, funding foreign companies with taxpayer-funded grants and tying up valuable Kansas farmland for decades with projects that no company is ultimately held responsible for decommissioning at the end of their useful lives, even violating property rights of farmers affected by the projects
  • Kansas (Republican Party) opposes so called Cap and Trade schemes

The resolution concludes:

Whereas irrefutable evidence demonstrates that ill-health effects to mankind and the environment are occurring due to the side effects of industrial scale wind installations. These occurrences are widespread, wherever these installations have been constructed;

Therefore, be it resolved, the Republican Party of Kansas, in view of the preponderance of evidence, will support candidates and legislative intent regarding energy policy that will serve to provide protection to our citizens security, physical health, financial health, access to reliable energy and property rights across all Kansas counties.

Of worthy note is that the CLINTEL declaration is referenced; nearly between 1600 and 2000 professionals and scientists indicate that climate change has always been with us, and the world is NOT on fire, or drowning, or otherwise careening to imminent disaster as some would have us believe. Climate change fear has been the false driver of the wind and solar proliferation, a universal clear economic and environmental disaster.

Some note that renewables policy can be termed Energy Vandalism. We concur: See this link for more detail on the nearly universally accepted articles in Kansas.

Article XIII of the Kansas Republican Party Platform States:

Kansas leaders should not be allowed to arbitrarily deny permits to build new power and energy-producing plants. Carbon dioxide, one of the most common gases on earth, should not be declared a pollutant nor used as an excuse to deny the construction of new power plants. We oppose so-called Cap and Trade legislation. We oppose efforts to force communities to engage in sustainable development under guidance from the federal government or the United Nations.

Comment

This is the first time we have seen a legislative body, organize, and nearly 100% agree, that climate change, which it always does and has done, should not be a driver for energy policy. It is the first time we have seen in such a document, a clear rejection of industrial wind and solar profiteers, and references to the irrefutable evidence of harm to the environment, people, and a clear intention to go forward with reliable, responsible, and cost-effective energy policy, while respecting property rights.

Kudos and respect to the two co-sponsors. Game changer.

Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States: “The power of a bold idea uttered publicly in defiance of dominant opinion cannot be easily measured.” (Lange: It most certainly can be documented and appreciated.)

————————–

ADDENDUM ONE

Quotes from Clintel (There is no climate emergency)

ADDENDUM TWO

Additional excerpts from the Resolution

Article XIII of the Kansas Republican Party Platform States:

XIII. ENERGY
We support an energy policy which creates a strong State economy with affordable and reliable energy. Kansas residents must be considered first when developing new, potentially expensive technology.

We encourage the development of alternative energy supplies, while continuing to support the oil and gas industry within the state. Ever increasing energy prices are creating new avenues for entrepreneurs and existing companies to develop new sources of energy. New developments in wind, solar, biofuels, and geothermal energy sources show real promise for clean, inexpensive, renewable energy for future generations. Increasing energy sources will inevitably create a more market-based system which ultimately lowers utility prices for consumers.

Kansas leaders should not be allowed to arbitrarily deny permits to build new power and energy-producing plants. Carbon dioxide, one of the most common gases on earth, should not be declared a pollutant nor used as an excuse to deny the construction of new power plants. We oppose so-called Cap and Trade legislation. We oppose efforts to force communities to engage in sustainable development under guidance from the federal government or the United Nations.

A report on the energy declaration, indicates this is a nonpartisan issue:

…. the energy producer is already allowing ESG rhetoric and the UN Agenda 2030 “Sustainable Development Goals” to guide their investments in Kansas, even rewarding executives and directors with additional bonuses and stock options for implementing the global climate plan.

This is not only a direct violation of the Republican party platform, but an attack on all citizens in the State, as we are seeing with recent reports that the supposed “green” Panasonic plant is actually an energy hog that caused Evergy to request a rate increase on customers in order to supply power to the plant.

The “green energy” project is also responsible for stalling efforts to transition the Lawrence power plant from coal to natural gas, due to the demands of traditional energy sources necessary to power the supposed “renewable” energy plant.

This is not a partisan issue. It’s a money and land grab issue, funding foreign companies with taxpayer-funded grants and tying up valuable Kansas farmland for decades with projects that no company is ultimately held responsible for decommissioning at the end of their useful lives, even violating property rights of farmers affected by the projects.

This resolution will protect Kansas from outside special interest groups by holding all legislators accountable for reliable, affordable energy that stays in our state to benefit our citizens.

ADDENDUM THREE

A conversation with Kansas Rep Carrie Barth and Former Chair of Energy and Environment House, Dennis Hedke. We asked Barth and Hedke to further explain the resolutions’ evolution, and possible resonances.

Conversations with Rep Carrie Barth (R-Dist 5) and former House Energy and Environment Chair, Dennis Hedke, Kansas: How did the exceptional resolution re mandate sanity and “exit renewables”, evolve?

Kansas, which ranks fourth in the U.S. for wind power, (is) the biggest wind energy-producing state to mandate light mitigation.

Wind turbines haven’t just exploded in numbers, they’ve grown ever taller. Since 2016, 400 new turbines have gone up in Kansas with rotor hubs taller than the Statue of Liberty.

The state now has between 3800 and  4,000 turbines, with hubs between 210 and 400 feet high.

It is clear that the pushback against the tyranny of renewables is accruing and accelerating. In August 2023, Robert Bryce again updates his files on rejected projects in the US.   Kansas appears “ready able and willing,” to grab the mandates out of energy policies, leaving the door open to more affordable and reliable power.

(Recently, in the last ten days)….”local governments in Illinois, Ohio, and Iowa have rejected or restricted wind and solar projects. Those moves bring the total number of rejections or restrictions in the Renewable Rejection Database to 574.”

Kansas legislators of the Republican Party have as noted in this blog, created an Energy Resolution of outstanding clarity.  The push for reliable and affordable energy is on. No herd mentality here.

Question: Lang to Rep Carrie Barth: How did you become enlightened re climate misinformation? Was this gradual, and is there a single source that sped your learning? (See Barth’s two page submission to the  Senate Local Government Committee.)

Answer: When door knocking last summer as a new candidate running for Kansas House of Representatives District 5, I met a constituent on her fourth-generation farm porch. She shared with me about what is going on in Southwest Douglas County, Kansas, that was affecting her and her neighbors with the Florida based energy company signing leases in the area for wind turbines.

Keep in mind, I live in SW Douglas County and this was the first time I was hearing about it. She shared with me concerns about her property rights, concerns about health, concerns about crops and livestock, concerns about wildlife, concerns about noise, and how she wants to keep this land for her kids and their kids. She spoke through tears as her way of life her family has worked hard for could permanently change if an industrial Commercial wind complex were approved in Douglas County.

I listened intently to her. She had done her research, she had been talking with her neighbors, and she shared with me highly unethical business practices the energy company was using where multiple individuals have completed affidavits that have already been filed with Douglas County and the Kansas Attorney General’s office. We ended the conversation with a hug and she asked me to help save our county and to do something about it. I left there knowing I had to help.

Through my education I’ve learned growing up, climate change has been around since the beginning of time regardless of the size of population as about every 100 years our climate shifts. So I started to dig in to learn more on why people decided to think differently. And I started to follow the money as the science and history is already there.

Not only is there wind trying to come into my county, we also have a 3,000 acre solar industrial complex trying to plop right in the middle of our agriculture zoned county that also bleeds into Johnson County, KS. I started reading a lot and talking with anyone that had experience in wind and solar energy. After I was elected where I beat an incumbent and took office January 2023, I started asking questions, reading our House Rules, and talking with anyone who would listen to me about the problem we have not only in Douglas County, but across our state.

I proposed a budget proviso during session that was an independent third-party study on the health and environmental effects of wind turbines, solar arrays, hydrogen hubs, and transmission lines. It would be the first study of its kind that I am aware of. It passed the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Budget Committee but failed the House Appropriations Committee with only eight votes in support of it.

When they say follow the money, it’s true! There were energy lobbyists everywhere during this time. I was told by a fellow legislator they believe 50-75 lobbyist were hired to combat my budget proviso. People from all over Kansas, Republicans and Democrats showed up at the Capitol for the Appropriation Committee Budget meeting in support of the proviso wearing red shirts filling the room to observe what was happening and hear what was said.

You might be wondering, why would the energy industry be so afraid of people finding out the results of an independent study? Doesn’t everyone want to know the truth? The energy lobbyist and their attorney, along with their hired expert, like to tell me and others that they don’t understand why we are worried about our health and environment. They say wind and solar are safe and effective and are low cost. Because of my budget proviso, I received emails and calls from people all over the state of Kansas telling me the issues they have.

Other states learned of my proviso and they reached out to me. I even connected with people from Canada and the issues are ALL THE SAME!  The evidence and data is clear! This is why I believe the resolution passed by the GOP delegates 180-1 votes.

Question to Rep. Barth: “To what extent do you think this Kansas Republican decision can impact other US legislators?”

Answer: The Resolution states the GOP party will support candidates that support legislative intent aligned with this resolution. Which means our Federal Republican candidates and elected positions will be held to this same standard as our state elected officials at all levels, including county elected Republicans. I have even shared our Kansas GOP Energy Resolution with other states so that they can do the same.

Question to Dennis Hedke (Geophysicist and former House Chair of Energy and Environment)

What is your background so we can understand the evolution that led to this remarkable achievement for the Republicans in KS?

Answer: I have been studying the issues surrounding the blatant misguided policymaking related to Energy, then Climate, since the Carter presidency, just after graduating from the University of Virginia, School of Engineering & Applied Science, M.S. Diploma in Materials Science.  I wrote Carter a letter, and of course got no response. I had graduated from Kansas State University with a B.S. in Geophysics before leaving for Charlottesville.  I was born and raised in Manhattan, KS, and moved to Miami, FL, to take my first job out of college in the spring of 1979.

Ronald Reagan moved the needle in the Right direction for 8 years, but then we got Bill Clinton, and of course Al Gore, one of the biggest liars in world history. We have been paying for his misguided malfeasance ever since.

We moved to Texas for a job change for me, as Exploration Manager for a small independent oil and gas exploration company in 1999. I was seething while seeing the very bad things in the making regarding ‘Global Warming’.  We returned to Kansas in 2003/4, where I joined another small independent, as Geophysical Manager.

Fast forward to 2009, and I found myself inside the Kansas Capitol, as an unpaid lobbyist, fighting to resist the Legislature’s temptation to foist upon Kansan’s, Renewable Energy Mandates. I (we) lost that fight, and I knew it was going to be a disaster for all kinds of reasons, policy-wise and every-otherwise. I had run for a seat on the State Board of Education in 2008, and narrowly lost because the outgoing Republican seat holder endorsed my Democrat opponent. I ran a very clean race, and people in the party noticed.

In 2010, Sam Brownback won the Governor’s race, and the District 99 Representative was called to be Brownback’s Insurance Commissioner, this creating a vacancy in the Kansas House, which I was appointed to fill on January 24th, 2011. I became the Chairman of the House Energy & Environment Committee January 2013, and held that position until I left office, after 3 terms, ostensibly June 2016.

I and many allies forged a battle against the mandates, and moved Kansas into ‘Voluntary’ discretion in creation of power delivery to Kansan’s, in April, 2015.

That’s my answer as to how some things got into motion between myself and Carrie. Six years after I left office, she was elected to her seat. She is a real Firebrand and is dedicated to helping Kansas get back on track with Energy Policy. She is a tireless worker, and I deeply appreciate what she has done already in her first year as a legislator.

She had heard about me, and she reached out to me for some advice and guidance.….which brings us to today.

Question: I think you mentioned a serious “error” that allowed the EPA to falsely label the innocent, trace atmospheric gas, CO2, into a pollutant. You are adamant that this decision resulted in the fact that:

(Hedke) Trillions of Dollars have been wasted, people in 3rd and 4th World countries have been deprived of the most fundamentally necessary power to turn on the lights and be released from poverty and join the rest of the civilized world.

Also: The Kansas Legislature, ruled by Republicans in the 2009 Session, made a serious error in forcing Power Companies to deliver Mandated Renewable Energy. This happened under the purported agreement to allow a single coal-fired power plant in Holcomb, KS to justifiably expand its deliverability of Electric Power to the Grid. Only, it didn’t happen. It didn’t happen because the Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health & Environment, Rod Bremby, denied a Permit to expand the plant, due solely to politics related to ‘Global Warming’.”

The Resolution passed by the Republican Party of Kansas contains very specific language and intent to right the multitude of wrongs that Kansas Legislators conducted in 2009, and which served to spread the Mandate Mentality across America. It remains to be seen if the current body of Legislators will have the political will to hold the line, and in fact push back, where necessary and appropriate.

Question: A lot of readers will be wondering how you and Rep Barth achieved a 180-1 vote for this very clear resolution. Given that KS has a pro wind record of placing wind factories in the State, even with a Republican House and Senate, is there a catalyst for this resolution at this time and at this place? Was a lot of lobbying needed, or was this more evolutionary, organic in nature due to the fast paced media pieces on changing perspectives of “renewables and climate”?

Answer: Former Chair, Dennis Hedke:

I perceive much of the reason for the success was due to the fact that the Committee reviewing the Resolution is heavily conservative. They had to present it to the Republican Party Delegates, which are probably also more conservative leaning.

The Legislators, Carrie excluded, are a lot more squishy, caring more about holding on to their seats, than acting with resolve and principle.

There may be some renewed pressure on Legislators to resist the absolutely ridiculous reasons for being ‘green’. That remains to be seen. Many of them simply forget that “The Truth Will Set You Free”.

I forgot to answer your question about cost of electricity. My bills range from about .13/kwh to .14/kwh.

Prices have increased by about 55% since wind power has been replacing coal and natural gas, commencing around 2011.

Thank you for your interest. Dennis.

Thank you again Former Energy Chair Hedke, and Rep Carrie Barth.

November 5, 2023 Posted by | Economics, Malthusian Ideology, Phony Scarcity | , , | Leave a comment

Hertz backpedals on rush into EV rentals: CEO says repair costs can run “twice as high”

By Jo Nova | November 2, 2023

Hertz was aiming to make 25% of its fleet electric by 2024, but is finding 11% is too much. Given there are whole nations pushing for 100% EV by 2035 there seems to be a message here…

Let’s thank Hertz for doing that experiment for us. It turns out EV’s didn’t work well in the high mileage Uber-type system because the drivers “drove them into the ground” and repair costs were much higher than expected. So Hertz moved some EV’s to the leisure hire department, but then the revenue per day in the leisure sector fell. Presumably people didn’t want to hire them.

It’s not that this is Bad News week for EVs — it’s quarterly reporting week, so companies have to tell investors things they’d rather not.

Great nations don’t force citizens to buy heavier cars with shorter ranges and bigger repair bills in order to stop bad weather one hundred years from now.

Hertz is slowing down the roll out of EVs onto its fleets as the CEO cites higher than expected repair costs and price cuts.

The rental car company reported lower than expected margins in the third quarter of this year, citing EV repairs as one of the challenges.

“Collision and damage repairs on an EV can often run about twice that associated with a comparable combustion engine vehicle,” said Mr Scherr.

Hertz logo

It all started out so well:

Andrew J Hawkins, The Verge

Rental car company Hertz once envisioned itself as the ultimate EV broker, doling out battery-powered vehicles to business travelers, ridehail drivers, and tech newbies in an ambitious plan to grease the wheels for the EV revolution. The company inked agreements with Tesla and Polestar to buy nearly 200,000 EVs. Tesla’s valuation topped $1 trillion on the news.

Part of the problem is linked to Hertz’s plans to rent EVs to ridehail drivers. Of the 100,000 Tesla acquired by Hertz, half were to be allocated to Uber drivers as part of a deal with the ridehail company. And drivers said they loved the Teslas! But Uber drivers also tend to drive their vehicles into the ground. This higher rate of utilization can lead to a lot of damage — certainly more than Hertz was anticipating.

Lora Kolodny,  CNBC

Musk frequently says that electric cars require less maintenance than counterparts with internal combustion engines (including plug-in hybrid electrics). …

But electric vehicle owners can face unique maintenance needs, as well. Nikhil Naikal, CEO of Kinetic, a startup that is not affiliated with Hertz or Tesla but provides repairs for electric and autonomous vehicles, told CNBC on Thursday:

“The reality of electric vehicles is that they can be 1,000 pounds heavier or more than gas vehicles, and they move faster, with higher torque. Since they’re extremely zippy and heavier, it’s just physics — the ability to overcome inertia so quickly is going to effect their suspension systems, the brakes and steering columns. It’s counter-intuitive, but even with fewer moving parts they are susceptible to requiring more maintenance. They especially require tire-swapping, because the tires wear out more quickly from that high torque and weight.”

November 5, 2023 Posted by | Economics, Malthusian Ideology, Phony Scarcity | 1 Comment

A new law is about to kill free speech and democracy in Australia

By Augusto Zimmermann | RT | November 5, 2023

The Australian Government has recently introduced in Parliament a new law proposal to ban officially unapproved online content. Digital companies are expected to adopt a code of conduct which will see them censor speech based on broad, vague and far-reaching directives.

The Communications Legislation Amendment (Combating Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023 foreshadows the imposition of a legal obligation on digital platforms to police alleged ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’. If that does not work, the law proposal provides for the full empowerment of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to directly intervene for the purpose of preventing ‘harm’.

Section 2 of the proposed legislation defines ‘harm’ as follows:

  • (a) hatred against a group in Australian society on the basis of ethnicity, nationality, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion or physical or mental disability;

  • (b) disruption of public order or society in Australia;

  • (c) harm to the integrity of Australian democratic processes or of Commonwealth, State, Territory or local government institutions;

  • (d) harm to the health of Australians;

  • (e) harm to the Australian environment;

  • (f) economic or financial harm to Australians, the Australian economy or a sector of the Australian economy.

The concept of ‘harm’ peddled by the bill is illusory, and its content would be subjectively determined by a powerful government agency. The definition of what is and what isn’t harm is malleable and can expand and contract depending on ACMA’s prevailing views. Ultimately, any type of speech with which the government is uncomfortable could be deemed ‘harmful’. For example, describing “disrupting social order” as serious harm could be interpreted to stop the organization of legitimate political protests. This could certainly be used to suppress legitimate political speech that should be part of a functioning democracy.

Above all, ACMA would gain sweeping powers to require any person to appear at a time and place of its choosing to answer questions about misinformation or disinformation. These powers include infringement notices, remedial directions, injunctions and civil penalties, including fines of up to AU$550,000 (US$358,000) for individuals and AU$2.75 million for corporations. Criminal penalties, including imprisonment, may also apply in cases of alleged “extreme harm.”

The provisions found in this law proposal put the communications and lives of free-thinkers, human rights defenders, independent journalists, and ordinary citizens under constant risk. They go in direct opposition to international human rights experts’ advice that “general prohibitions on the dissemination of information based on vague and ambiguous ideas, including ‘false news’ or ‘non-objective information’, are incompatible with international standards for restrictions on freedom of expression… and should be abolished.”

It is noteworthy that the Australian Government is exempted from the proposed legislation. Hence, the content issued by the government is never to be considered ‘misinformation’ but criticisms of the government by ordinary citizens can. It is certainly ironic that views incompatible with the government’s preferred narrative could be deemed to ‘harm’ the integrity of Australia’s democracy since it would disallow speech and expressive conduct that is integral to the maintenance of democratic processes.

In its 12-page submission to the Law Council, the Victorian Bar Association explains that this proposed legislation effectively creates an “unlevel playing field between governments and other speakers” that disadvantages government critics in comparison to government supporters. “The bill’s interference with the self-fulfilment of free expression will occur primarily by the chilling self-censorship it will inevitably bring about in the individual users of the relevant services,” says the Victorian Bar.

Above all, ACMA’s enforcement of the proposed legislation will inevitably stymie discussion of controversial topics, especially if they involve criticism of government policy and actions. This scenario is likely to unfold when the impugned speech is incompatible with the government’s official narrative. Thus, the proposed legislation targets those who, merely exercising their right to free speech, critically assess the desirability of government decisions and actions.

Other concerns with the proposed ‘misinformation’ legislation include the possibility of suspending the activities of internet companies in Australia if they fail to comply with the obligations created, as well as increased criminal penalties for libel and defamation which are incompatible with international human rights standards.

As can be seen, the proposed legislation constitutes a serious attack on the democratic right of Australians to free speech. Digital platforms will be legally obliged to police commentators’ discussion of controversial topics. Under this ‘misinformation’ legislation, any honest and robust debate about government policies will be effectively outlawed.

To conclude, our freedom of political communication is under attack in Australia. If the Misinformation and Disinformation Bill is enacted, then the free expression of ideas will be basically outlawed by the Australian Government. In short, the enactment of this law proposal will spell the end of authentic democracy in Australia. Australians are basically witnessing the transformation of their system of representative government into nothing more than a less open, or more disguised, form of elective dictatorship.


Augusto Zimmermann, Professor and Head of Law at Sheridan Institute of Higher Education in Australia, President of WALTA – Legal Theory Association, and former Law Reform Commissioner with the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia

November 5, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | 1 Comment

Hamas calls for an international committee to inspect Gaza hospitals

Palestine Information Center – November 5, 2023

GAZA – The Hamas Movement called on the Secretary-General of the United Nations to form an international committee to visit Gaza hospitals and verify the Israeli false narrative about being used for resistance activities.

The Movement strongly condemned the Israeli army spokesman’s claims regarding Indonesian and Hamad hospitals in Gaza as media fabrications.

According to the Movement, the occupation is attempting to use the claim that Hamas constructed tunnels beneath the buildings as justification for its attacks on the Qatari and Indonesian hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip.

“This is just a lie to cover up the Israeli crimes committed against injured people and civilians.”

The Movement also confirmed that the Israeli allegation about a tunnel entrance under the Indonesian hospital is, in fact, a fuel store for the facility, while the alleged tunnel beneath Hamad Hospital is just a room for pumps and electricity generators.

Targeting more than 100 hospitals and medical centers and putting about 16 hospitals out of service refutes the Israeli army spokesman’s allegations.

Additionally, Hamas refuted Israeli claims that it is stealing fuel, an accusation that UNRWA has categorically refuted.

November 5, 2023 Posted by | Deception, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Tulsi Gabbard’s Warmongering is Nothing New

By Adam Dick | Ron Paul Institute | November 5, 2023

Some people are expressing surprise about the warmongering comments Tulsi Gabbard has been making in regard to the Israel war that has been ramping up over the last few weeks.

I thought she was for peace; how can she be saying this? That’s what some people are asking when discovering the recent comments of Gabbard who had worked hard to portray herself in the 2020 presidential election as the candidate for voters favoring peace.

The recent comments by Gabbard that have surprised people include this statement at Twitter on October 9, two days after the Hamas attack that sparked the new war:

The United States must stand with Israel in the face of this terror attack by the Islamist terrorist group Hamas. This is just the latest example of the greater war being waged by both Sunni and Shia Islamist jihadists throughout the world. This should be a wakeup call to leaders everywhere that Islamist jihadists are the greatest short and long-term threat to the safety, security, and freedom of the American people, and people throughout the world.

Saying the United States must “stand with Israel” is a shorthand expression politicians in Washington, DC routinely use to declare that they support the United States government providing whatever aid Israel requests to pursue Israel’s “national security” related objectives. Indeed, Gabbard, a former member of the US House of Representatives, mentioned this week in a Fox News interview with host Laura Ingraham that House members can demonstrate they “stand with Israel” by voting to provide Israel with the roughly 14 billion dollars in aid for Israel’s war effort that was then under consideration in the legislative body.

The House on Thursday approved legislation, HR 6126, to provide this aid. (This money will supplement the billions the US already doles to Israel yearly.) As Gabbard would put it, the House “stood with Israel.”

While Gabbard’s support for the US jumping in to help Israel pursue its new war is surprising to some people, it is in line with a warning I provided in February of 2019 — two weeks into her presidential run. Here is what I stated then:

In 2015, Gabbard spoke regarding foreign policy in her speech at a Christians United for Israel conference. Comments in that speech suggest Gabbard’s foreign policy may be more interventionist than that of President Donald Trump. In comparison with Trump, Gabbard seems in that speech as antagonistic toward Iran, at least as devoted to Israel, more devoted to the Kurds, and much more devoted to the “they attack us because we are free” perspective on terrorism that has been at the heart of the Global War on Terror.

Check out Gabbard’s speech I mentioned here. It is an eye-opener for people who had fallen for the Tulsi Gabbard is an antiwar presidential candidate charade.


Copyright © 2023 by RonPaul Institute.

November 5, 2023 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , | 4 Comments

Spain ‘neo Nazi’ mercenary among others helping Israel in Gaza

MEMO | November 5, 2023

The Israeli occupation army has resorted to using foreign mercenaries as part of its genocidal campaign against the besieged Gaza Strip, according to a report on Friday by major Spanish outlet El Mundo.

Among the foreign fighters is a notorious Spanish mercenary who previously fought alongside Ukrainian neo Nazis following Russia’s invasion last year. Pedro Diaz Flores was previously presumed dead by the Russians, but he is alive and well, according to the newspaper who interviewed him.

“So I came for economy, for money. They pay very well, they offer good equipment and the work is calm. It is 3,900 euros [$4,187] per week, complementary missions aside,” he said of his motives for joining the occupation forces.

However, he insists that he fights in occupied Golan Heights, “we only provide security support to arms convoys or the troops of the Israeli armed forces that are in the Gaza Strip, we do not fight Hamas directly, nor are we involved in assault operations.”

“We are in charge of the security of the checkpoints and access control on the borders of Gaza and Jordan. There are many PMCs [private military companies] here and they share the work. Traditionally they have guarded border terminals between Eliat and Aqaba,” he added.

The article features an image of Flores, 27, alongside colleagues at a border checkpoint with the Gaza Strip.

Last month, speculation arose that mercenaries stationed in Ukraine have started to divert their attention to aiding and joining the Israeli military, while the focus of the West has also shifted in standing with Israel while it commits war crimes and massacres against Palestinian civilians.

Speaking yesterday during a briefing in Kyiv with visiting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “It’s clear that the war in the Middle East is taking away the focus” from Ukraine.

November 5, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism | , , , | Leave a comment

100 Israeli doctors call for bombing of hospitals in Gaza

Press TV – November 5, 2023

In a new development in the ongoing Israeli atrocities against Palestinians, about 100 Israeli doctors have signed an open letter demanding that the Israeli military bomb hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

Claiming that it is the Israeli occupation army’s “right and duty” to attack hospitals, the petition accused the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas of using the medical facilities as “terrorist nests.”

The Israeli doctors see that Palestinian hospitals have become a legitimate target for the Israeli occupation forces, upholding the narrative that Palestinian Resistance groups are using hospitals for protection.

“The residents of Gaza saw fit to turn hospitals into terrorist nests to take advantage of Western morality, they are the ones who brought destruction upon themselves; terrorism must be eliminated everywhere. Attacking terrorist headquarters is the right and the duty of the Israeli army.”

The letter has been widely condemned online. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a British-Palestinian surgeon who is currently in Gaza, took to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to criticize the letter.

“100 Israeli doctors sign a petition calling for the destruction of all hospitals in Gaza. Lovely people with a great collegiate attitude. They must have taken the same Hippocratic oath as Harold Shipman,” he wrote, referring to an English doctor and serial killer who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2000.

Earlier this week, 43 rabbis issued a religious decree to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying it is religiously acceptable and permissible to bomb Palestinian hospitals in Gaza.

A document signed by the rabbis states that there was no religious or moral objection to striking hospitals when civilians are allegedly used as shields and hidden behind them, Israel’s Channel 14 television news reported on Thursday.

The message had now been conveyed to military units, the prime minister and cabinet members, the report added.

This comes as the Israeli forces, for the 30th day in a row, are waging a devastating war on Gaza, in which at least 9,770 Palestinians were killed, including 4,800 children and 2,509 women, and more than 24,000 others were injured.

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have repeatedly targeted hospitals, residences, mosques, and churches. Under the Geneva Convention, attacks on hospitals are strictly prohibited.

On October 18, at least 500 civilians were killed by Israeli airstrikes on al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City. The attack has been condemned as an act of genocide by many governments around the world although the Israeli regime has denied responsibility.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, as many as 15 people were killed and 60 others injured on Friday after the regime targeted a convoy of ambulances leaving al-Shifa hospital.

Several hospitals in Gaza City have become refuges for Palestinians hoping to be spared Israeli bombardments, which began on October 7.

November 5, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , | 4 Comments

Canada’s military provocations on China’s doorstep to backfire: experts

By Guo Yuandan and Liu Xuanzun | Global Times |November 5, 2023

Canada has repeatedly hyped up “dangerous” interceptions by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recently, but experts said on Sunday that the PLA’s lawful actions took place on China’s doorstep, and that Canada’s blind confidence could lead to troubles of its own.

In a recent event, two sorties by a vessel-borne helicopter from the Canadian Navy’s frigate HMCS Ottawa with unknown intentions approached China’s territorial airspace above the Xisha Islands, and despite the PLA naval and aviation forces’ lawful identification, verification and repeated verbal warnings, the Canadian helicopter not only refused to respond, but also took provocative maneuvers including flying at a very low altitude, Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson of China’s Ministry of National Defense, said in a press release on Saturday.

The Canadian move violated China’s domestic law and related international law, infringed China’s sovereignty security, and was a malicious act of provocation with ulterior motives, Zhang said.

Canada then hyped up the event through the media to throw mud at China, Zhang said, citing a statement from the Canadian Department of National Defense and media reports claiming that PLA Navy J-11 fighter jets intercepted the Canadian CH-148 helicopter by releasing flares over the South China Sea on October 29.

The measures taken by the Chinese side were professional and up to standard, Zhang said. He urged the Canadian side to stop disregarding facts and hyping, strictly restrict the activities of its frontline naval and aviation forces, and prevent accidents at sea and in the air from happening.

It marks a third provocation from the Canadian military over the past month.

In mid-October, a Canadian CP-140 reconnaissance aircraft illegally entered China’s airspace over Chiwei Islet, approached China’s eastern coast and entered the Taiwan Straits for close-in reconnaissance, forcing the PLA Air Force to take lawful management and control measures.

On Wednesday, the Canadian Navy’s HMCS Ottawa frigate made a transit through the Taiwan Straits together with the US Navy’s USS Rafael Peralta destroyer, while the PLA handled the event in accordance with the law and regulations.

However, Canada’s high-profile provocations are not based on its own capabilities, but on its military strategy of following the US, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday.

The Canadian navy is weak, and it is not easy for them to deploy frigates to the Asia-Pacific region, Song said.

“Canada is blindly confident that it is a major Western country, and it thinks too highly of its capabilities,” Song said. “In fact, if Canada keeps making troubles around China, it could get itself into trouble.”

Zhang Xuefeng, another Chinese military expert, told the Global Times on Sunday that the Canadian military should realize how sensitive it is to conduct close-in reconnaissance on China’s doorstep.

It is childish for the Canadian military to provoke China, and Canada should not misread China’s restraint, Zhang Xuefeng said.

Compared to the PLA, Canada’s military presence near China is insignificant, so Canada should know its limit and not pull the chestnut out of the fire for the benefit of the US, Zhang Xuefeng said.

November 5, 2023 Posted by | Militarism | , | Leave a comment

Israeli Heritage Minister Suggests Dropping a Nuclear Bomb on Gaza, Kill Israeli Prisoners

Al-Manar | November 5, 2023

Israel Today newspaper said today, Sunday, that Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu suggested dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip would be one of the options to be considered.

“We must recognize what scares them enough to force them to flee, as death does not frighten them. Thus, we must search for ways to horrify and eliminate them,” the Israeli minister said.

“I disagree with those who refer to Gaza Palestinians as civilians. In Gaza, there are no civilians, and there is no difference between them and Hamas,” Eliyahu added.

Referring to the Israeli captives taken by Hamas and other Palestinian factions throughout Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the Zionist minister said, “The lives of Israeli captives and detainees are no more valuable than the lives of soldiers, and we must recognize that warfare entails human losses.”

Yifat Biton, a Knesset member, reacted to the aforementioned comments, saying that “through his statement, a stupid minister is destroying ‘Israeli’ propaganda efforts around the world. The only way to reply is to dismiss him immediately.”

Palestinian Factions Respond

The Hamas movement perceived the Zionist minister’s statements as evidence of the enemy government’s terrorism against the Palestinians.

According to the Islamic Jihad movement, ‘Israel’ is gradually carrying out what its minister stated, and all evidence exposes the severity of their ongoing crimes.

“What the minister in the Zionist government said about dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza was not a slip of the tongue or an act contrary to reality, as the criminal Netanyahu tried to justify. Rather, it is reality itself as the thousands of tons of explosives are being dropped by the Israeli occupation forces on the Strip”, said the head of the media office in Gaza.

November 5, 2023 Posted by | Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , | 2 Comments

Israeli Missiles Kill Dozens Of Palestinians In Gaza

IMEMC | NOVEMBER 5, 2023

On Saturday evening, Israeli missiles killed dozens of Palestinians and injured hundreds, mainly women and children, in the Gaza Strip.

Media sources said the army fired missiles at a home of the Sam’an family in Al-Maghazi refugee camp, in central Gaza, killing fifty-one and wounding dozens, mainly women and children.

The sources added that the Israeli Air Force fired dozens of missiles in many neighborhoods west and north of Gaza City and fired phosphorous shells into the areas, especially the Al-Maghazi refugee camp.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said the number of casualties is much higher than confirmed as search operations under the rubble of bombarded homes and buildings were ongoing.

The Municipality of Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza, said the Israeli army has not only been bombing homes, medical centers, and various residential and commercial buildings, in addition to media facilities, but is also deliberately bombing water wells and water tanks and destroying infrastructure needed to provide basic services to the displaced families.

It said two of the bombed targets were a well and a water reservoir providing water for more than 70.000 Palestinians in the Tal Az-Za’atar area in northern Gaza, causing flooding in various surrounding homes and buildings.

Furthermore, the Israeli Air Force carried fifteen air strikes in the vicinity of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza.

In addition, the Palestinians located the corpses of five Palestinians and rescued many others from the rubble of the Abu Haseera family home, which Israel bombed west of Gaza City.

At least seven Palestinians were killed, and dozens injured by Israeli missiles targeting homes in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Also, seven Palestinians were killed and many injured by Israeli missiles that struck a home for the Mheisin family in the center of Jabalia refugee camp.

Among the Israeli bombing targets were not only homes and civilian buildings but also dozens of bakeries, water stations, fishing boats, and various infrastructure facilities and streets.

The Israeli army also bombed the main gate and yard of the An-Nasr Children’s Hospital in Gaza City, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, in addition to firing missiles at the Al-Quds Hospital in Tal Al-Hawa.

The Israeli army also fire many missiles at the AlAzhar University in Gaza, destroying killing, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians.

On its part, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, published videos showing their fighters targeting and destroying many Israeli tanks, including some that were detonating at point-blank range, and confirmed the death of many Israeli soldiers.

Al-Qassam added that the constant Israeli bombing on the Gaza Strip has also resulted in the killing of 60 Israelis, who were captured by the group, since October 7, and said that twenty-three of them remain buried under the rubble of bombarded buildings.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said Israeli missiles and shells have killed at least 9488, mainly women and children, and injured at least 26.000, most of them are children, women, and seniors.

The number of Palestinians who were killed by Israeli soldiers and paramilitary colonizers in the occupied West Bank is 147, in addition to more than 2200 injured.

November 5, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Fuel crisis forces complete shutdown of Gaza hospital generators

Palestine Information Center – November 5, 2023

GAZA – Power generators at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza have stopped working due to a lack of fuel, officials at the hospital said.

“Generators in Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza have completely stopped operating due to the severe fuel shortage,” director of the hospital Ahmed Kahlut said in a statement on Saturday.

During the past few days, the health ministry in Gaza appealed for fuel supply for hospitals’ generators in the war-torn coastal enclave.

It announced last Thursday that the main power generators at the Indonesian Hospital and Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza had shut down.

Such a serious fuel crisis threatens the lives of hundreds of patients, including premature babies, at Gaza’s hospitals.

Israeli warplanes also bombed the power generator and solar energy panels at Al-Wafa Hospital in central Gaza City on Saturday.

November 5, 2023 Posted by | Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

President Raeisi: War against Hamas amounts to war on democracy

Press TV – November 5, 2023

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi has highlighted the role played by Hamas in the Gaza Strip as the territory’s legitimate government, saying the war against the Palestinian resistance movement is tantamount to waging war on democracy.

During a telephone conversation with Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on Saturday night, Raeisi welcomed Oslo’s position on the need for an immediate end to Israel’s killing of civilians in Gaza as well as international efforts to lift the siege on the coastal enclave and deliver aid to its residents.

He also expressed Iran’s readiness to cooperate with the Norwegian Justice Ministry in an investigation into the atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza, stressing that the regime’s war crimes and the US support for such criminal acts should not go unpunished.

“Hamas is the legal, elected and legitimate government of Gaza,” he said. “The war against Hamas is a war on democracy.”

Israel waged a bloody war on the blockaded Gaza Strip on October 7 after Hamas’s Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity.

Since the start of the aggression, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 9,572 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 26,000 others.

It has also imposed a “complete siege” on the coastal sliver, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

Raeisi noted that the killing of almost 10,000 Gazans, including 4,000 children, is the result of the massive shipment of weapons and equipment by the United States to the Zionist regime.

“The fact that a child is killed in Gaza almost every 10 minutes is horrible and a clear example of crime against humanity and genocide. The disgusting silence of the US and some European countries along with their weaponry support for the Zionist regime prove the West’s double standards and its obvious partnership in the Zionists’ crimes,” he said.

The Iranian chief executive further censured the ineffectiveness of 180 UN resolutions to change Israel’s behavior.

The Islamic Republic, he added, has presented a UN-registered democratic and fair solution to the Palestinian issue based on the idea of one vote for every Palestinian.

The Norwegian premier, for his part, said his country is aware of Iran’s important and effective role in the region.

He also appreciated Tehran’s attempts to reduce regional tensions and called for interactions with the Islamic Republic toward resolving the Palestine issue.

Iran and Norway, he emphasized, can consult and cooperate through diplomatic channels to find a solution that immediately ends the fighting, lifts the Gaza siege and provides relief aid to its people.

November 5, 2023 Posted by | Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment