NEW CIVILITY WATCH: Former CIA Director’s Post Still Wonders About Sen. Tuberville Being Removed From ‘the Human Race.’

People have definitely been sharing their thoughts lately with regards to the holds that Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is placing on military nominations and promotions in response to the Pentagon’s illegal abortion policy that is in violation of 10 U.S.C. 1093. Under the Biden administration, servicemembers and their dependents can receive paid time off for abortions, and travel expenses are covered if the abortion takes place out-of-state. People have really taken their anger up a notch, though. One such user asked “Should Tommy Tuberville be removed from his committee?” That prompted Gen. Michael Hayden, formerly of the CIA and NSA, to take it a step further.

“How about the human race?” his post wondered. As many have taken to X to point out, the former head of the CIA and NSA is calling for the death of a sitting U.S. Senator by wondering if he should be removed from “the human race.” Within hours, the post had over 1,000 replies and over 250 quoted reposts. There’s still over 1,300 likes, though.

Curiously, Hayden’s post is still up.

Flashback: Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History. And additional examples of leftist violence and eliminationist rhetoric at the link.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Don’t Be Fooled: RFK Jr. Is a Radical Leftist.

HIGHER EDUCATION IS A MORAL CESSPOOL: Academics and students show their moral superiority by applauding terrorism. There’s a serious question whether in its present form it actually benefits our society on whole.

If they can make you believe absurdities, they can make you commit atrocities. Higher education has been making its students believe absurdities for decades now.

Related: This is what “decolonization” looks like.

Also: The Public is Giving Up on Higher Ed. “Only 36 percent of Americans, Gallup found, have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher ed. That’s down from 57 percent in 2015 — a drop of more than 20 percentage points in just eight years. . . . These should be terrifying data points for those of us who work in higher education — our compact with the public has been broken. But many of us have shrugged off the looming threat. Deep down, many of us think the numbers are skewed — whether by Republicans (they’re biased against us!), people without college degrees (they’re ignorant!), or an increasingly polarized population (the other side is nuts!). In short, it’s not our fault. This is wishful thinking. . . . There’s a more reasonable, if less guilt-assuaging, interpretation of this polling: Americans are waking up to the fact that our system of higher education is broken. The evidence is there for all to see.”

Broken: Financially, intellectually, and especially morally.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Nearly Half of Higher-Income Households Say They Are ‘More Reliant on Credit Cards Than Ever.’

A recent report from Moneywise cited a survey from the personal finance software company Quicken that found “32% of Americans earning at least $150,000 a year are currently living paycheck to paycheck.”

This seems extraordinary, but recent data published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York show a surge in borrowing, with credit card debt in the second quarter of 2023 eclipsing $1 trillion for the first time. Despite high interest rates, people of all income levels are turning to credit cards to make ends meet. The New York Times recently noted that more than two-thirds of U.S. families now have credit cards, and balances were up more than 16% compared to the previous year.

Somewhat surprisingly, it is higher-income households that report being more reliant on credit cards than ever.

“The Quicken survey found that 46% of higher-income groups are more dependent on their credit cards than they’ve ever been,” Moneywise reported, “compared to just 40% of middle- and 39% of lower-income groups.”

Meanwhile, a third of earners making more than $150,000 a year say they won’t be able to pay off their balance this year, a costly move considering that LendingTree reports that the average interest rate on a credit card currently stands at 24.45%.

“Bidenomics is working,” according to the White House — and I believe them.

NOBODY LISTENS TO BLINKEN. NOBODY: Blinken Asked Palestinian Authority to ‘Restore Calm’ as PA Justified Violence Against Israel.

Previously:

.@SecBlinken: “What Jake Sullivan said is right” when he said “the situation in the Middle East is more peaceful than ever” pic.twitter.com/5ZnGFFubb2

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 8, 2023

It might seem almost impossible that we’ve gone so quickly from Trump’s team of Mike Pompeo and Jared Kushner bringing peace through the Abraham Accords to today’s murderous chaos, but with this gang of Obama retreads in charge it was inevitable.

HMM: Disney caught by surprise by the return of activist investor Nelson Peltz.

“They were caught by surprise,” a person familiar with the matter told Yahoo Finance about Trian Fund Management Nelson Peltz’s latest activist attack on the bumbling media conglomerate.

A source familiar with Disney’s thinking refuted the notion.

With Disney shares plumbing fresh 52-week lows, billionaire Peltz is jumping back in the ring to duke it out with superstar CEO Bob Iger.

Peltz is seeking multiple board seats at Disney, including one for himself, the person familiar with the Trian CEO’s thinking said. The Wall Street Journal first reported news of Peltz’s move, which included boosting Trian’s stake in Disney.

The window for board nominations begins on Dec. 5 and continues to Jan. 4. But the situation at Disney is so concerning that Peltz didn’t see the need to wait until December, the person said.

Disney could use a big shakeup — and a lot less Iger.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: James Lileks interviews Monty Python’s Michael Palin in England.

Knock on the door, figure in the vestibule: ah, he’s taller than I thought. I had no idea. Six feet or so. Cleese and Chapman were taller, so you didn’t notice.

I mean, what do you say? Just imagine the thoughts going through one’s head. My God, it’s James Lileks, author of the Bleat and many books, newspaper columnist, architecture critic, radio presenter, television amusement-person, pop-culture archivist – where do you start? What do you ask that hasn’t been asked a hundred times before?

He did very well, I have to say. Didn’t betray a jot of self-consciousness.

Ha ha etc. BUT SERIOUSLY I had heard from all that he was a perfect gentleman, self-effacing in an offhandedly amused and quietly confident way of a man at ease with himself and used to praise, appreciative of it and happy to show his gratitude for the patronage and admiration. A good solid bloke.

And that he was.

What do you say, though?

Find out here; Lileks’ interview with Palin is in the Minneapolis Star Tribune: From Monty Python to WWI: Michael Palin’s new book resurrects his long-lost great uncle.

WHY IS HIGHER EDUCATION SUCH A CESSPIT OF SEXISM AND BIGOTRY? University continues female-only awards despite signing legal agreement to include all genders. “Perry, in a recent interview with The College Fix, called the situation an ‘unprecedented case of the president of a school signing a legally binding agreement with [the Office for Civil Rights], and then basically defying that agreement and carrying on with “discrimination as usual.”‘”

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: The Colonization of the West (Or Killers in Our Midst). “What is there to say when the chant evolves — as it must — from ‘Death to Israel’ to ‘Gas the Jews, f*** the Jews?’ Well, sane people would say that calling for the destruction of an entire people is wrong. Progressives, whether elites safe in their ivory towers or purple-haired Antifa sympathizers in the streets, either make excuses or endorsements depending on their individual level of brazenness.”

EVERY INSTITUTION HAS BEEN CORRUPTED: American Library Association president says libraries, public schools need to be ‘sites of socialist organizing.’

ROGER L SIMON: ‘You Don’t Make Peace With People Who Are Trying to Kill You.’

“Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas’s Saturday surprise attack on Israel and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Iran-backed militant group.

“Officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had worked with Hamas since August to devise the air, land and sea incursions—the most significant breach of Israel’s borders since the 1973 Yom Kippur War—those people said.” It goes on with more details worth reading, but, disturbingly, further down in the article, we find Secretary of State Anthony Blinken weirdly equivocating: “We have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack, but there is certainly a long relationship.”
Why?

At the minimum, Mr. Blinken may fear acknowledgement of Iran’s role that, with that mounting American death toll, might appear a casus belli for the United States to attack Iran.

More likely, he is concerned it would redound poorly on the Biden administration and on Mr. Blinken himself for their Iran policy that recently resulted in the released $6 billion in sanctions to the world’s greatest sponsor of terrorism.

The Biden Administration knew exactly who they were getting into bed with in Tehran and did so anyway. Rarely discussed (except by me, here) was Biden’s huge mistake in making the Palestinians a part of his hoped-for “mega-deal” Middle East peace process. That gave groups like Hamas (and their paymasters in Iran) an effective veto over the process — which they exercised in the most spectacularly brutal way imaginable.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Read the Room, Hamas—Israel Isn’t in the Mood for a Truce. “Hamas sympathizers throughout the world (looking at you, Germany) got to spend the weekend celebrating, but Israel is determined to make even the memories of those celebrations short-lived, as well it should.”

MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: Israel’s intelligence failure is a warning for America’s politicized agencies.

NEW YORK POST: Barack Obama’s silent on Israel war because he paved the way for it.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON:

They Kill, While Our Government Tweets and Deletes….

If wild reports are true that the inhuman Hamas will execute dozens of civilian hostages, and if it is further accurate that there are rumored Americans among them—and if Americans then are to be executed by Hamas—aside from…

— Victor Davis Hanson (@VDHanson) October 9, 2023

Read the whole thing, but this part stands out:

Is it the mass mutilations, the rapes, the desecrations of corpses, the beheadings, the murdering of women, the elderly, and children, that so excites them all—as if they were gleefully watching sacrificial victims marched up to the top of an Aztec temple in ancient Tenochtitlán?

Or rather is their frenzy due to unspoken terror that Hamas at last has gone too far in its premodern savagery? There are now no more of its patrons with the power to call off the IDF. And so they may finally get the existential war that Hamas always for decades had bragged about and begged for.

A bit later last night:

The United Arab Emirates has warned the Assad regime in Syria not to intervene in the Hamas-Israel war or to allow attacks on Israel from Syrian soil, according to two sources briefed on the Emirati diplomatic effort https://t.co/MAbDR5pQvJ

— Sean Agnew (@seanagnew) October 9, 2023

Somebody just felt a really strong tug on his money leash. Hamas has gone too far for the Arab world, which ought to make them easy to isolate and destroy — but we have yet to see exactly how the Biden Cabal will screw things up.

Further, that is.

PUNCH BACK TWICE AS HARD: SpaceX slams FAA report on falling space debris danger.

TIME FOR SOME HONEST HINDSIGHT: Former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers is “sickened” by the failure of the elite school’s leadership to condemn both Hamas terrorism against Israeli civilians and the statement of 30 Harvard student groups that blames Israel for everything, reports the Washington Free Beacon’s Alana Goodman.

“The silence from Harvard’s leadership, so far, coupled with a vocal and widely reported student groups’ statement blaming Israel solely, has allowed Harvard to appear at best neutral towards acts of terror against the Jewish state of Israel,” tweeted Summers, who also served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Bill Clinton.

It’s encouraging, even if only a little, any time a prominent member of the liberal elite publicly expresses a glimmer of dissent from some aspect of the dominant leftist narrative on American campuses. That said, one wonders why Summers didn’t see this coming long ago when he was in a position to do something about it.

OUR LAWLESS DHS: House border watchdog hits Mayorkas ‘stall tactics’ and threatens contempt.

DON SURBER: The Palestinian attack was suicidal: Even AP found it difficult to shield Hamas this time.

THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IS LIKE THE CARTER ADMINISTRATION, ONLY WITH MUCH MORE CORRUPTION AND MUCH LESS PATRIOTISM: Echoing Carter Years, Iran-Backed Militants Hold U.S. Citizens And Threaten Televised Executions‌.

LINCOLN BROWN: The Ministry of Truth Fires Up the Afterburners. “It was wholly predictable that protestors would take to the streets to sing the praises of Hamas under the guise of supporting Palestine. We expected the young, ignorant, and indoctrinated, both on and off campuses, to begin a combination victory dance/rally. Of course, as the Squad’s narrative broke down and Biden’s handlers made fools of themselves trying to address the matter, the media showed up, saluted, and reported for duty.”

PRIME BIG DAY LIGHTNING DEAL: 2 Pack Multi Plug Outlet Splitter.

BARBARISM IN AMERICA: ‘Proud Of What Has Occurred’: Scenes From Inside Philadelphia’s Pro-Hamas Rally. “The rally also had characteristics similar to other liberal protests in recent years, such as anti-police demonstrations carried out by Black Lives Matter and Antifa. Protesters could be seen promoting other activist causes, including one man who attempted to block this reporter’s ability to film the rally wearing a hat with the letters ‘ACAB,’ which stands for ‘All Cops Are Bastards.’ Event organizers wore masks to cover their faces, and used their hands to prevent those who did not agree with their ideology from filming the rally.”

AT AMAZON, Prime Big Deal Days. #CommissionEarned

LAUGHING WOLF: Israel, Invasion, UCs, And Us.

Spare me the ‘good and innocent’ people of Gaza bit. I remember when they danced and celebrated the attacks of 9/11, and I’ve watched them do the same and gleefully take part in atrocities now. I’m sure there are some good and innocent people in Gaza, and I hope they got out per the advice of the Israeli government despite Hamas doing all they could to keep people from leaving.

Hamas has long used mosques, schools, and hospitals as cover. On the latter, a number of corporate media operations were well aware of them having facilities under a major hospital and refused to cover or acknowledge. They often shoot from beside such facilities so as to use them as human shields. So, when you see mosques and other facilities not only go boom, but then cook off from what was hidden inside, don’t be surprised and don’t fall for those wringing their hands hypocritically over such actions. They know what’s going on, they support it, and frankly most of them would love to see Israel gone and every Jew dead.

Human shields will no longer work for Hamas. The idea that it’s international partners (Iran, Qatar, etc.) would protect it is ill-founded. The idea that the useful idiots and fellow travelers (such as the Hamas Caucus in Congress) would save it isn’t happening. That the West Bank, Hezbollah, and others would rise up and join in is iffy, for all that a lot of posturing is going on. No doubt, the government of Iran (as opposed to the people of Iran) is doing all it can to take out the state of Israel, but I think they’ve miscalculated in this case. Israel can and should go in and destroy every last vestige of Hamas in Gaza, even if it takes out most of Gaza. Not a war crime, not a violation of the Rules of War given what has happened.

Frankly, Israel truly needs to take the gloves off.

Indeed.

Read the whole thing, which relates the Hamas War — or whatever it ends up being called — to Biden’s mess on our southern border.