DISPATCHES FROM AL SHARPTON’S CHANNEL: MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan Is Back on Air and as Anti-Israel as Ever.

Mehdi Hasan and his disproportionate disdain for the world’s only Jewish-majority state are once again front-and-center at MSNBC.

After a brief hiatus, Hasan, who previously worked at Al-Jazeera, the de facto mouthpiece of the Qatari government, has returned with his typically misleading rants — buoyed only by his British accent — in tow.

Reacting to President Joe Biden’s Oval Office address on Chris Hayes’ show late last week, Hasan rejected Biden’s comparison between Hamas and Russia, instead submitting that the real similarities lie between Israel and Russia.

“It’s interesting that he decided to do a whole thing about Hamas and Russia, and linking them together. It was slightly Axis of Evil-y, putting them together, cause they’ve really got very little in common just when you look at them,” argued Hasan. “Because a lot in the rest of the world would say ‘Okay, if you’re gonna compare Ukraine and Israel,’ Biden and a lot of people in America may see Ukraine and Israel as the same. A lot of people around the world see Russia and Israel the same.”

“Israel is the occupier of the West Bank and Gaza,” he insisted, apparently unaware that Israel unilaterally pulled out of Gaza in 2005.

Why is Comcast such a cesspit of anti-Semitism?

THE UKRAINE SUPPLY LINE WAR: Logistics Rules the Battlefield

The four-month-old Ukrainian offensive in southern Ukraine recently achieved a major objective. Ukrainian forces advanced to within GMLRS missile range of the only Russian rail line that carried supplies to occupied Crimea. Ukraine had already disabled the other rail supply route to Crimea, which used the Kerch Strait bridge.

The significance:

Russia’s loss of its last rail supply line to the Crimea (which also means rail supply is cut off to much of Russian-occupied Ukraine east of the Crimea) is particularly critical concerning diesel and other liquid fuels because those are necessary for Russian tactical communications, which are largely based on vehicles because Russian man-portable field radios are scarce and insecure due to lack of effective encryption. Russian vehicle-mounted radios and associated electronics, such as computerized sights for tanks, must be charged by the vehicles’ own batteries as Russian military vehicles lack the auxiliary power units (APUs) that Western military vehicles use. So Russian vehicles must run their motors for about an hour a day to charge their batteries even when they are not in action. That burns up a lot of fuel, so the Russian forces in Crimea and just to the east of it will have their combat power reduced by 50-80% in ten or so days. In addition to being out of ammunition.

It’s the latest StrategyPage Logistics Update (Jim Dunnigan’s online How To Make War).

GMLRS = Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System. Here’s a photo of a USMC wheeled M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) participating in a live fire exercise. Ukraine fields the HIMARS. This Air Weapons update from 2018 discusses US Army and US Marine Corps use of the HIMARS. GMLRS rocket range varies — newer versions can hit targets 70-90 kilometers away. Longer range variants are in the works.

THE “EV PUSH” IS FALTERING: Despite EV Push, Stellantis Has a Flood of New Gas Engines Coming.

JEFF DUNETZ: What Hamas Wants. “Why can’t world leaders understand that Hamas wants to drive Israel ‘into the sea’ and kill all the Jews? Don’t believe me, believe Hamas; below are excerpts of the Hamas charter.”

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Israel removes Greta Thunberg from school curriculum over anti-Israel post.

The Education Ministry has said it will remove any reference to climate activist Greta Thunberg after she published a post over the weekend holding an anti-Israel sign reading “stand with Gaza.”

“Hamas is a terrorist organization responsible for the murder of 1,400 innocent Israelis, including children, women, and the elderly, and it has abducted over 200 people to Gaza,” the ministry said. “This stance disqualifies her from being an educational and moral role model, and she is no longer eligible to serve as an inspiration and educator for Israeli students.”

Thunberg faced criticism over the weekend from hundreds of Israeli climate activists after she posted on X that “today we strike in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza. The world needs to speak up and call for an immediate ceasefire, justice and freedom for Palestinians and all civilians affected.”

I’m glad to see the Israeli Education Ministry belatedly coming to its senses, but why were there “references” to her in the first place?

STEVEN HAYWARD IN THE NY POST: Reaction to Hamas massacre shows it’s time to decolonize the campus

Colonialism, or its parent category “imperialism,” is the all-purpose charge Lenin developed a century ago to explain the failure of Marxist historical predictions and supply a new rationale for whipping up radical enthusiasm for revolution.
In practice it is a means of delegitimizing capitalism and sanctifying resentment of successful groups like Jews, Asians and whites generally (hence the related term ubiquitous on campus, “white supremacy”).
Despite centuries of persecution and repeated pogroms like Oct. 7, Jews persist as a supremely successful ethnic group, “overrepresented” (campus terminology, again) in the ranks of Nobel Prize winners, scientists and most elite professions including, ironically, academia, though this appears to be quickly changing.
The basic premise of our universities today is that if your ethnic group is statistically “overrepresented,” you are a de facto “oppressor.”

Read the entire brilliant essay.

‘F*** JEWS:’ Antisemites Vandalize the Office of Bari Weiss’s Media Outlet.

Vandals wrote a vulgar antisemitic message outside the office of Bari Weiss’s publication the Free Press last week, the latest example in a string of antisemitic incidents that have taken place in American cities and on college campuses since the brutal Hamas attack on Israeli civilians earlier this month.

Weiss, who worked at the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times before launching her own media outlet, revealed Sunday on X that she had discovered the message “F*** Jews” scrawled on the wall outside of her Los Angeles office.

“This was scrawled outside of our offices this week,” she said. “If the antisemites who did this think it will intimidate me and the journalists of @TheFP, they don’t know me, they don’t know us, and they have no idea what we stand for.”

This was scrawled outside of our offices this week.

If the antisemites who did this think it will intimidate me and the journalists of @TheFP, they don’t know me, they don’t know us, and they have no idea what we stand for. pic.twitter.com/2CsIqrqz5V

— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) October 22, 2023

Weiss’s publication is vocally pro-Israel and has taken a stand against the antisemitism that’s flared up in the U.S. since the Hamas attack. She started the Free Press after publicly resigning from role as a writer and editor in the opinion department, citing “bullying by colleagues” and an “illiberal environment.” Some of the bullying she faced, she has revealed, was driven by her unapologetic support for Israel, which is informed by her own Judaism.

If you’re scrawling “f*ck Jews” graffiti on a wall, it’s definitely time to ask yourselves, “Are we the baddies?”

2023: Troubled Times Part II: There’s more to being prepared than just guns and ammo.

I DON’T NEED THIS YET BUT I’M ADDING A “FASTER, PLEASE,” JUST IN CASE: First-ever treatment can regenerate 90% of lost hair, study finds.

READER FAVORITE: Gel Seat Cushion for Long Sitting. #CommissionEarned

EVERGREEN HEADLINES: Biden Doubles Down on Stupid. “Presidentish Joe Biden has a message of peace and love on Monday in the aftermath of the most deadly attack on Jewish civilians since the Holocaust. It did, however, leave me with one question: did the White House’s Dr. Feelgood get your daily dosage wrong, Mr. President?”

CHANGE: Elon Musk’s SpaceX Breaks Ground in Europe, Wins Key Satellite Launch Deal.

Notably, the collaboration is expected to see two launches in the coming year, each bearing two Galileo satellites, a move underscored by Javier Benedicto, the ESA’s director of navigation, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The final go-ahead, rests with the European Commission and EU member states and an approval is anticipated before the end of this year.

According to the terms laid out, the U.S.-based Falcon 9 rockets, part of SpaceX’s arsenal, will take the satellites into space.

EU authorities initially hesitated to leverage SpaceX for the Galileo satellite launches, with concerns stemming from a reluctance to rely on a U.S. entity to deploy essential infrastructure into space.

But, given the delays with Europe’s Ariane rocket program and the conscious choice to sidestep Russian rockets due to geopolitical tensions, officials conceded that SpaceX became the viable alternative.

Last July: Ariane 5 launches final mission as Europe faces space gap. “The mission to send France’s Syracuse 4B and Germany’s Heinrich Hertz (H2Sat) satellites to geostationary orbit caps 27 years of service for Ariane 5, whose successor – Ariane 6 – has been hit by technical delays until 2024 for operational use.”

RIP: Dusty Street Dies: Outspoken Rock DJ For SiriusXM, KROQ Was 77.

WELL: Doctors are now prescribing doxy-PEP, a morning-after pill that helps prevent STIs like gonorrhea, chlamydia, or syphilis.

TO BE FAIR, IT’S DIFFICULT TO INSULT OFFICE MATES: Associated Press Won’t Let Reporters Call Hamas a Terrorist Organization.

Instead of referring to Hamas—which earlier this month killed hundreds of innocent civilians, including children in an unprompted attack on Israel—as a terrorist group, the outlet says journalists should call its members “militants.”

“Terms such as Hamas fighters, attackers or combatants are also acceptable depending on the context,” the Associated Press style guide states.

The Associated Press did not respond to a request for comment.

Bucking the “terrorist” label is one in a series of strange decisions by the Associated Press, which include once sharing office space in Gaza with Hamas. That office, which the AP used for 15 years, was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in May 2021. The Israeli Defense Force stated the building contained Hamas operatives and weapons, as well as an office for Islamic Jihad, another terrorist organization based in Gaza.

Flashback: Israel Shared Intelligence to Us Showing Hamas Operated Inside Building Where AP, Al-Jazeera Had Offices.

SEVEN? Seventh U.S. Embassy Evacuated Under Biden’s Watch While He Vacations.

NO DRUGS COST WHAT WE THINK THEY DO. Ozempic and Wegovy Don’t Cost What You Think They Do.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Americans Are Overdue With Their Car Payments At Highest Rate In Nearly 30 Years.

REVOLT: SPLC Union Speaks Out on Hamas-Israel War as Southern Poverty Law Center Remains Silent.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): This would be enough to get the SPLC put on an SPLC hate list, if anyone there had ever voted Republican.

DEMOCRATS MADE A PHARMACY DESERT AND CALLED IT RACIAL JUSTICE: CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid are closing stores across the U.S. Here’s how ‘pharmacy deserts’ can impact your health.

Missing from this story: Any mention of shoplifting/retail theft.

THEY RESERVE THAT FOR THE TEA PARTY AND TRUMP SUPPORTERS: AP Won’t Let Reporters Call Hamas a Terrorist Organization.

BBC’S REFUSAL TO CALL HAMAS A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION IS FUELING MORE ANTISEMITISM, FORMER EXECUTIVE SAYS.

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: Seattle Dystopia: Students at Three Schools Targeted by Masked and Armed Gangs.

MICROBIOME NEWS: Antimicrobial peptides modulate lung injury by altering the intestinal microbiota.

BATTLESWARM: Russia: “We Are Withdrawing From The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.” U.S.: “OK.” BOOM!

Some under-reported news from last week: Russia withdrew from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), and literally hours later the U.S. conducted a nuclear test.

So, a nuclear test, but not a nuclear/fission device. It seems like this was a test using conventional high explosive mixed with radioactive isotopes, For Science.
…
The U.S is still a signatory to a number of other nuclear weapons treaties. But it’s pretty interesting that the Department of Energy had this one cued up and ready to go immediately after the Russkies nixed the treaty…

It’s always such a pleasant surprise when we aren’t caught by surprise.