There’s been a lot of buzz thus week about the appearance of SUV-sized drones over the Atlantic Coast states, particularly New Jersey. They exhibit some characteristics not previously observed and speculation is rampant. The most commonly voiced of these that they were launched by Iran from a ship parked off our coast, but that doesn’t seem true. I’m inclined to accept the speculation of Scott Adams, Dilbert’s creator, and a man who has spent a great deal of time exploring psychological tools of persuasion:
This is a good week to practice your lie detections skills because we know the government is lying about drones. For example, Mayorkis says, “. . . no evidence of anomalous activity.” Right. It’s not “anomalous” to Mayorkis because he knows what the truth. (I assume is our military.) John Kirby says the sightings they could confirm were all regular airplanes. That’s pure weasel. The government also says they are investigating, with the FBI, etc. That’s also probably true, but only because whatever is happening is not being shared to every part of the government. Watch for overly specific answers. That’s how normies (non-psychopaths) lie.
On the other hand, it could be outgoing SEC chair Gary Gensler pretending to launch a fleet of spaceships at us to foil Musk’s plan of transporting people to Mars — just in case his lawfare against Musk fails.
In the Middle East, autocracy and butchery seem to be meeting a match in the IDF and IAF. In 11 days, the Israelis erased a barbaric Assad regime which had lingered after a civil war for 13 years. Unlike the Biden administration, which left in the hands of the Taliban billions of dollars worth of weapons and military supplies, or the Obama administration, which left Libya’s war stocks untouched, the Israelis systematically destroyed most of the Assad arsenal. They’ve now opened a clear corridor to Iran and its nuclear facilities:
Open Corridor to Iran: Israeli Air Force Summarizes Operation to Decimate Assad’s Army According to estimates, 86% of Syria’s air defense systems (SAM) have been destroyed. This marks a significant shift, as Syria, once a major threat to Israeli Air Force (IAF) planes due to its dense anti-aircraft missile systems, now poses far less of an aerial threat, making Syrian airspace considerably safer and more accessible for flights. Strategic Opportunity Against Iran In light of recent developments in the Middle East, the IDF believes there is now an opportunity to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. Various security organizations, including the IDF, are currently engaged in comprehensive inter-organizational preparations involving intelligence and operational planning. These efforts aim to present the political leadership with the military capabilities and options for executing such an attack. Syrian Air Defense Devastated The IAF focused on Syria’s most advanced air defense systems, which had successfully intercepted numerous missiles during recent years: •SA-17 system: 80% destroyed. •SA-22 system: 86% destroyed. Additionally, 90% of Syria’s MiG-29 aircraft and approximately 80% of its Sukhoi-24 planes have also been destroyed, resulting in an overall 61% reduction in the Syrian Air Force’s operational capacity. Missile and Firepower Capabilities The results in Assad’s missile and firepower systems were more varied. Some missile systems suffered 80-90% destruction, while others were only 20-30% affected. The IDF assesses that advanced weapons, missiles, and other military capabilities may now fall into the hands of rebel factions, some of which Israel may not yet be aware of. Targets were selected based on prioritization. Scale of the Operation. The IAF conducted approximately 500 strikes during the operation, employing 1,800 munitions.
While there’s some press coverage portraying the Syrian “rebels” and suggesting there will be substantial improvement in the areas under their control, I believe that is far-fetched. The HTS — aka “rebel” forces led by Al-Joulani — are only minimally an improvement over Assad.
“The terrorists responsible for forcing Assad out are called HTS, or Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham. Roughly translated to “Levant Liberation Committee.” Meaning that they want to control the entire “Levant.” This includes Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey.”
<img alt captext="Clarice F” class=”post-image-right” src=”https://conservativenewsbriefing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/of-drones-druze-and-pardons.jpg” width=”350″>The country seems in fact to divide along ethnic lines, with the Kurds in the North, the Alawites along the coast, the Al-Joulani forces in the middle, and the Druzes (and many Christians) in the south. To my mind it is altogether possible that Syria may divide up on ethnic lines. At least one analyst seems to agree with this:
#Iran, the master of the evil ring of fire around Israel, as well as #Hamas and #Hezbollah, underestimated Israel’s ability to sustain the losses and keep fighting for 14 months. Hamas was minimized to the area of Khan Yunis. Hezbollah teased Israel for 11 months, then was struck with plagues it never imagined. And only a week ago did we witness the collapse of the Iranian-supporting regime in #Syria. A years civil war that lingered for 13 years ended with a blitz that took 11 days only, and old Syria was gone. [snip] All eyes on Syria now. On the range between losers and winners, #Turkey is certainly on the winning side. Turkey aided and supported the rebels and now Syria is hers. It can keep annexing the huge “buffer zone” that it created inside Syria along their shared border, by that have better access to the Kurds that it hates so much.
The Syrian people on the other hand are facing very challenging times. The Alawites are trying to escape into Lebanon or flee to other countries. What will be the fate of those who can’t run away? The rebels, now the government, are hunting people from Assad’s regime. [snip] Executions in the streets and fields, just like that. These are Israel’s new neighbors. The rebels, lest you forgot, are former Al-Qaeda or ISIS. Who knows what religious fanaticism they’ll bring with them?
The #Kurds are holding the eastern side of Syria, after retreating from other, central, areas, but it’s still quite a large portion of the country. The Kurds are supported by the US and under the radar they are in close ties with Israel. Can Syria be run in peace and harmony as a single state with these groups working together singing Kumbaya? I highly doubt it, certainly when one of the groups is led by radical Islam.
The best solution (which should have been enforced right after WWI) is to create 3 states or cantons – Muslim, Kurdish and Druze. Let each have an autonomy in his area, and Israel could finally enjoy a friendly non-Arab neighbor on its border for the first time in 76 years. Just imagine. An amazing story came out today from the #Druze villages along the #Golan border. Druze leaders of 6 villages near the Israeli border, joined together and called Israel to annex them to the Golan. They’d rather live as Israelis than put their faith in the hands of the rebels.
As I said earlier, we are seeing tectonic plates moving in the Middle East, all thanks to Israel’s insistence to keep fighting till victory.
Joe Biden seems determined to grant many, many more pardons than any of his predecessors. Saturday’s Washington Post, as you might imagine, featured a pardoned man who represents one of the most sympathetic, someone who as a teen was convicted and jailed decades ago for being a passenger in a stolen car and who after his release had led a law-abiding life. Less sympathetic commutations abound, among them three Chinese spies and former Pennsylvania Judge Michael Conahan who took kickbacks from for-profit detention centers in exchange for wrongly sending juveniles to their facilities. And there’s more than a hint that at least one was a payoff for a bribe.
Will incoming President Trump pardon all those convicted in connection with the January 6 riot at the Capitol? There’s lots of speculation whether he will or should pardon them all or just those whose actions included claims of property damage or violence, I think Bill Shipley makes the best argument for pardoning then all.
…it is based on the refusal of the Biden DOJ to consider moving the trials outside DC, and for no one being willing to acknowledge that all DC residents, including those working in the Courthouse, were quasi-victims of the events of Jan. 6. In 30+ years doing federal criminal trial practice — including 21 as a federal prosecutor — I never handled a bench trial. But because of the overt bias of the DC juror pool, and the inability of normal voir dire to screen out biased jurors, defense attorneys — including me — have abandoned jury trials for our clients. They are pointless. There has been only one jury that acquitted a Jan. 6 defendant on all the felonies the Govt charged him with — my client Michael Greene, a 34 year old black combat veteran who came to DC on Jan 6 for work — and was paid — performing a task for the Oath Keeper organization. He testified he didn’t vote, has never voted, does not care about politics at all, doesn’t like Trump, doesn’t like Biden, he was only in DC because it was a job — something the Oath Keepers had paid him to do in the past at other events. If that is the only guy where a jury in DC can find reasonable doubt, then there is no jury trial right in DC because there is no way to find 12 unbiased jurors in a city of only 400,000+ registered voters. You begin with the problem that 93% didn’t want Trump for a second term. Then you add the layer that 60% either work for or have jobs linked directly to activities of the federal government. I have had 3 jury trials — I’ve had attorneys with DOJ and family of attorneys with DOJ on my juries. They were better than other jurors I had to strike before them. It is not a question of getting “good jurors” — it is a question of keeping only the “least bad” jurors. You are hearing this from a guy who reviewed probably close to 600 lengthy juror questionnaires in the three Oath Keeper trials. To be a defendan[t] reading through those and thinking “These are the people who are going to judge me knowing I came here to support Trump” is a nightmare. Almost everyone consumes news from the WaPo, NYT, NPR and MSNBC. So, if J6 defendants — all J6 defendants — did not have a basic right to a fair jury trial in DC, how can anyone be said to have had a trial process that comported with due process? Your “no blanket pardon” position assumes the opposite to be true. It is not — 100+ bench trials proves my point.
While we wait to see what happens, Nancy Pelosi, who played a major role in elevating the incident into the media and public (mis)perception that this was an effort to overthrow the government, lies in a hospital in Luxemburg with a fractured hip after she tumbled down some marble steps on an official visit.
