Judges at the Supreme Court are considering how women are defined in law in a landmark case brought by Scottish campaigners. The Scots have gone mad. It will determine how people who pretend to be men or women are recognized. They will also consider the process of being recognized as a different gender. The case […] The post Scotland Supreme Court to Define a Woman appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

Actor Alec Baldwin claims most Americans are “uninformed” about the real world.  The 66-year-old made his feelings known while speaking at the Torino Film Festival in northern Italy, where he was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. “Television news in the United States is a business. They have to make money,” Baldwin said during his speech, per The Hollywood Reporter.  “There’s a hole, there’s a vacuum. There is a gap, if you will, in information for Americans,” the actor said on Monday. “Americans are very uninformed about reality, what’s really going on — climate change, Ukraine, Israel — you name it. The biggest topics in the world, Americans have an appetite for a little bit of information. That vacuum is filled by the film industry. Not just the independent film industry, not just the documentary film industry… but by narrative films as well.” Alec Baldwin thinks Americans are "uninformed" about "what's really going on" in the world and says the film industry is helping to plug the gap. "There's a hole, a vacuum… a gap in information for Americans," the actor said at the Turin Film Festival on Monday. "Americans are… pic.twitter.com/lVBD6UO4pi — The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) November 25, 2024 A reporter for THR asked specifically about the incoming Trump administration, which Baldwin answered indirectly without mentioning President-elect Donald J. Trump by name. “There are many challenges to face,” he said. “The environment, the problem of plastic, of permafrost: There are plastic molecules in every corner of the planet. These are the real problems to solve.” CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE Baldwin continued, “It will be necessary for every building to have an alternative energy component. Every hospital, school, airport and government building will have to have photovoltaic panels on the roof. We must force states to work on alternative energy sources. But we will never get rid of oil and gas. Can you imagine an ambulance car or a fire department car that runs on electricity and has to be refueled at a charging station?” The one thing the actor refused to discuss was the fatal shooting on the set of his movie, “Rust,” when a prop gun Baldwin was holding discharged and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. The movie premiered this week at the Camerimage Film Festival in Torun, Poland, but Baldwin did not attend. A New Mexico judge dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin, who has multiple civil lawsuits pending, including one from Hutchins’ mother, Olga Solovey. “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March and received the maximum sentence of 18 months in jail. Baldwin has maintained all along that he was not responsible for Hutchins’ death.

An internationally acclaimed British barrister blasted the International Criminal Court after it issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Natasha Hausdorff, an expert on international law, foreign affairs, and national security policy, recently appeared on Dan Senor’s Call Me Back podcast. She noted that the warrant was “principally an allegation of intentional starvation, which included a host of false allegations … my organization, UK Lawyers for Israel, went through that public summary line by line and in a further submission to the court, and a letter to the prosecutor proved, I should say, line by line, that every phrase of every sentence was, in fact, false.” Hausdorff explained that when the Rome Statute — the treaty that established the ICC — was drafted, “a particular political agenda started to creep in,” adding that the agenda caused both the United States and Israel to refuse to join the ICC. She further explained the Rome Statute was manipulated so that the presence of Jews in the Biblical lands of Judea and Samaria could be considered a crime. CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE “Bashar Assad, under his regime over the last, call it, you know, 10 to 15 years, there has been something in the order of over 600,000 Syrians slaughtered,” Senor noted. “Talk about a genocide, an orchestrated genocide with the use of chemical weapons and the complete shelling and destruction of whole Syrian towns, largely Sunni Muslim towns and villages, and some two million Syrians who have been displaced; some internally, but most of them externally displaced. You have talked about forced starvations. We can talk about what famines are like in places like North Korea. We can talk about the wave of human rights abuses in countries like Iran. So just take Kim Jong-un, Bashar Assad, and the Supreme Leader of Iran, Khamenei, as the three examples. The ICC has never, not once, I don’t think, targeted any of those leaders.” “We are seeing a vicious cycle of the misreporting in the media and the false narratives, the blood libels, ultimately,” Hausdorff stated. “This is the modern blood libel, to accuse Israelis of killing Palestinian children while Jews were accused of killing Christian children in the Middle Ages in pursuit of their blood. This is no different, except that it now has the modern acceptable face of the hatred of the Jewish state. And I think that’s why it’s become so pervasive and it’s so effective at fueling this weaponization of international law against the Jewish state.” “Members of the ICC have said, ‘We’re not going to participate. And we’re not going to comply,’ I think also chips away at the credibility of the institution,” Senor stated. “I know the U. S, with the new administration coming in and the new Congress coming in, are talking about taking some very strong action against the ICC. We could wind up a year from now with the ICC being a shell of itself.” “All of these legal terms, genocide, apartheid, all of the Arab world is Jew-free,” Hausdorff noted. “And yet, this allegation is directed at Israel, where there is a 20% minority of Arabs that live as equal citizens. I mean, all of this is utterly extraordinary. But, outside of these exchanges that we’re having, it is becoming the received wisdom. The ICC isn’t launching this initiative in a vacuum.”

The following is an excerpt from the new book “Disappearing The President” by Lee Smith, (October, 2024, Encounter Books) * * * The Counterinsurgents Many of the analysts obsessed with Russian information warfare played crucial roles in Russiagate, like Hamilton 68 founder Clint Watts. “I was talking to him at the time and quoting him in stuff I was writing because I thought what he said made sense,” says Siegel. “And some of what he said didn’t make sense. People lose track of reality when they talk about information warfare.” A West Point graduate, Watts joined the FBI after leaving the Army, and in 2011 he joined a think-tank based in Philadelphia, the Foreign Policy Research Institute. During the 2016 election cycle, he was a go-to talking head on Russian information warfare. “Regardless of the extent of Trump’s direct knowledge about Russia’s intelligence activities, active measures [by Russian intelligence] have achieved enormous success on the back of his presidential campaign,” he wrote in a 2016 article that supported the collusion narrative. “Russia sees Trump as a tool to undermine its American adversaries. In that regard, they’ve already achieved their goal and possess the potential to exceed their expectations.” (7) The name of Watts’ organization, Hamilton 68, refers to the 68th essay from The Federalist Papers, in which Alexander Hamilton discusses the presidency and foreign influence: “These most deadly adversaries of republican government might naturally have been expected to make their approaches from more than one quarter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils. How could they better gratify this, than by raising a creature of their own to the chief magistracy of the Union?” (8) The reference was clear: Trump had been raised by a foreign power. Thus, the purpose of Watts’ organization was not to track Russian “disinformation” and influence operations on social media, but was rather to add another branch to the counterinsurgents’ propaganda campaign vilifying the chief magistracy of the Union—Trump—as a Russian agent. Jacket design by Steve Cooley. Encounter Books. Watts was supported by the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD), a project of the German Marshall Fund, a Washington, D.C. based think-tank funded by private donors; government agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development; foreign governments like Norway, Sweden, and Belgium; Big Tech oligarchies Google, Microsoft, and Amazon; and major Democratic Party donor George Soros, a Shadow Network giant. ASD was founded in 2017 by a left-right coalition of anti-Trump activists who had supported and promoted Russiagate. Its board of advisors included:  John Podesta, chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign Jake Sullivan, a longtime Clinton aide and now Biden’s national security advisor Michael McFaul, Obama’s ambassador to Russia David Kramer, aide to Senator John McCain. Kramer gave a copy of the Steele dossier to BuzzFeed, which published it in January 2017. Bill Kristol, anti-Trump editor of the now-defunct magazine, the Weekly Standard Michael Morrell, former acting CIA director and longtime deputy director under President Obama Morrell explained the ASD’s purpose as it was getting off the ground in July 2017. “In a perfect world, we would have a national commission that would be looking into exactly what happened, exactly what did the Russians do and what can we do as a nation to defend ourselves going forward and deter Putin from ever doing this again,” Morell told a journalist. “We all know this is not going to happen, so things like the GMF [German Marshall Fund] effort are hugely important to fill the gap.” (9) In reality, ASD and Hamilton 68 were partners in the FBI’s ongoing anti-Trump operation, which had been off-boarded to Robert Mueller’s team when the special counsel investigation began in May 2017. When the #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag appeared, Hamilton 68 reported that it was being spread by Russian bots. (10) Schiff and Feinstein’s letter on the hashtag relied exclusively on Hamilton 68’s data. Even as the corporate media dutifully reported Hamilton 68’s declarations as fact, however, the Big Tech platforms were becoming increasingly wary of Watts’ analyses. The Daily Beast offered a glimpse of this skepticism with a January 23, 2018 story reporting that Twitter analysts had determined the #ReleasetheMemo hashtag was spread by legitimate American accounts, not by Russian bots. (11) Behind the scenes, Twitter officials were coming to believe that Hamilton 68 was a fraud. Twitter’s trust and safety head Yoel Roth told colleagues that a secret list of around 600 Russian bot accounts that Hamilton 68 monitored was “weird and self-selecting. They’re so unwilling to be transparent and defend their selection that I think we need to just call this out on the bullshit it is.” (12) Twitter identified the 600 accounts tracked by Hamilton 68 and found they were neither Russian nor bots. Rather, Roth wrote to colleagues, “they appear to strongly preference pro-Trump accounts, which [Hamilton 68] use to assert that Russia is expressing a preference for Trump.” Roth wanted to confront Hamilton 68 publicly. “My recommendation at this stage is an ultimatum,” he wrote, “you release the list or we do.” CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE Some Twitter employees were worried about taking on an organization that represented a powerful consortium of political and intelligence officials. Others represented those same interests inside the company. “We have to be careful in how much we push back on ASD publicly,” wrote Emily Horne, who later landed a job in the Biden White House. Another Twitter executive, Carlos Monje, wrote, “I also have been very frustrated in not calling out Hamilton 68 more publicly, but understand we have to play a longer game here.” Monje later became a senior advisor to Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Twitter lawyers drafted a careful response to Schiff and Feinstein explaining that the company’s initial inquiry regarding #ReleaseTheMemo had “not identified any significant activity connected to Russia.” Twitter wrote that “because the Hamilton Dashboard’s account list is not available to the public, we are unable to offer any specific context on the accounts it includes. …We have offered to review the list of accounts contained in the Dashboard and this offer remains open.” (13) Facebook responded simply by noting that Hamilton 68’s allegations concerned content on Twitter, not Facebook. (14) Those responses were not good enough for the California Democrats. On January 31, Schiff and Feinstein sent another letter demanding that Twitter and Facebook try harder. “It is unclear from your responses whether you believe any of the Russian-linked accounts involved in this influence campaign violated your respective user policies,” the duo warned. “We reiterate our request that you immediately take necessary steps to expose and deactivate such accounts if you determine that they violate your respective user policies.” The letter continued, “Twitter inexplicably…neglected to answer the question of whether Russian sources were actively engaged in promoting the #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag, as illuminated by the Hamilton 68 dashboard of the German Marshall Fund.” (15) In other words, You must find a way to tie pro-Trump accounts to Russian bots and then censor them—or else. “In the end, Schiff, Feinstein, and the Dems just beat Twitter down,” says Langer, the Nunes aide. “They were threatening to take all kinds of retaliatory action if the platforms didn’t produce the right results. And eventually, Twitter found a way to connect #ReleaseThe Memo to Russian bots, even though there was no evidence for it and they knew Hamilton 68’s findings were fraudulent.” The following January, Twitter released a report detailing its research into a new batch of 418 accounts that “appeared to originate in Russia.” The company admitted it could not determine if they actually were Russian bot accounts, but claimed they behaved similarly to Russian bots. Of the top three hashtags employed by these 400 accounts, number two was #ReleaseTheMemo, which was included in approximately 38,000 Tweets. (16) Thus, based on a few hundred accounts that may or may not have been Russian, Twitter insinuated that a grassroots campaign among American conservatives might really be a Russian influence operation. “These possible Russian bot accounts comprised less than one-half of one percent of activity on the hashtag,” says Langer. “That’s a drop in the ocean. It’s statistically irrelevant. But Twitter left that out of the report.” The release of the Nunes memo on February 2, 2018, exposed Russiagate as an instrument of information warfare, paid for by the Clinton campaign and directed by Obama’s spy chiefs. It was the Shadow Network’s counterinsurgency campaign targeting Trump, his allies, and supporters. “What we’re now experiencing is what countless other countries around the world have experienced since the start of the Cold War,” says Benz. “When the U.S. government controls your information eco-systems, controls your political leadership, censors you, spies on you, and propagandizes you. People in Boston are now experiencing what people in Baghdad did. This is what it feels like when the U.S. government deploys its military, its intelligence, and civil society partners and media in a whole-of-society campaign to re-engineer your country.” * * * Lee Smith is the author of the New York Times bestseller “The Plot Against the President.” His other books include “The Permanent Coup” and “The Strong Horse.” A veteran journalist and regular contributor to Tablet Magazine, Smith lives with his wife and son in Charleston, SC. This excerpt is published by permission from Encounter Books. “Disappearing The President” by Lee Smith, (October, 2024, Encounter Books). Copyright 2024 by Lee Smith. Jacket design by Steve Cooley. The views expressed in this book excerpt do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire. * * * NOTES: Chapter Three: The Counterinsurgents 7. Andrew Weisburd, Clint Watts, and Jim Berger, “Trolling for Trump: How Russia Is Trying to Destroy Our Democracy,” War on the Rocks, November 6, 2016, https://warontherocks.com/2016/11/trolling-for-trump-how-russia-is-trying-to-destroy-our-democracy/. 8. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed68.asp 9. Josh Rogin, “National Security Figures Launch Project to Counter Russian Mischief,” Washington Post, July 11, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/07/11/national-security-figures-launch-project-to-counter-russian-mischief/. 10. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/right-wing-demand-releasethememo-endorsed-russian-bots-trolls-n839141 11.  Spencer Ackerman, “Source: Twitter Pins #ReleaseTheMemo on Republicans, Not Russia,” Daily Beast, January 23, 2018, https://www. thedailybeast.com/source-twitter-pins-releasethememo-on-republicans-not- russia#:~:text=The%20online%20groundswell%20urging%20the,widely%20 since%20late%20last%20week. 12.  Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi), “1.THREAD: Twitter Files #15 MOVE OVER, JAYSON BLAIR: TWITTER FILES EXPOSE NEXT GREAT MEDIA FRAUD,” X, January 27, 2023, 12:49 p.m., https://x.com/mtaibbi/ status/1619029772977455105. 13.  Vijaya Gadde, Twitter General Counsel letter to The Honorable Dianne Feinstein and The Honorable Adam Schiff, January 26, 2018, https://democrats-intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/twitter_response_jan_26.pdf.  14. https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/6/4/64bd3267-fdc9-46fb-b265-589dc5d08eff/8DBC13B7F818DA79F0E8C614A8F8159D.facebook-response-to-feinstein-schiff-1.26.18.pdf 15.  “Feinstein, Schiff Send Follow Up Letter to Twitter and Facebook on #ReleaseTheMemo Campaign,” U.S. Senate Committee on The Judiciary, January 31, 2018, https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/dem/releases/feinstein-schiff-send-follow-up-letter-to-twitter-and-facebook-on-releasethememo-campaign. 16.  Twitter, “Retrospective Review: Twitter, Inc. and the 2018 Midterm Elections in the United States,” January 31, 2019 (updated February 4, 2019), https:// cdn.cms-twdigitalassets.com/content/dam/blog-twitter/official/en_us/ company/2019/2018-retrospective-review.pdf.

Biden and Trump’s forthcoming symbolic gesture of unity at the latter’s second inauguration hints at unexpected political amity. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden plan to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20. Trump did not attend Biden’s 2021 inauguration following the Capitol riot. A Symbolic Gesture President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20. The announcement by White House spokesman Andrew Bates highlighted Biden’s commitment to democratic values. Trump had failed to attend Biden’s 2021 inauguration, a historic deviation following the January 6 Capitol attack. Conversely, current arrangements aim to underscore a unified democratic ethos. Biden’s commitment to attend Trump’s inauguration regardless of the outcome demonstrates his focus on democracy above political rivalry. Andrew Bates emphasized that “He and the first lady are going to honor that promise and attend the inauguration. He views that as an important demonstration of commitment to our democratic values, and to honoring the will of the people, as we continue to provide an orderly and effective transition.” This confirms a pledge previously made by Biden during his campaign efforts. #BREAKING: White House officials say that President Joe Biden will be attending Donald trumps inauguration which will take place on January 20th 2025 pic.twitter.com/AdDVi4XvXB — R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) November 25, 2024 Past Discord Trump’s absence from Biden’s inaugural ceremony contrasted with a political tradition upheld for over 150 years. The snub followed his supporters’ infamous Capitol riot. Biden’s recent White House welcome for Trump feels like a step towards bridging previous divides and promoting a smooth transition of power. Such actions reflect an attempt to embolden democratic principles amidst unpredictability, especially considering Trump’s renewed political ascent. The political landscape remains dynamic and influenced by the actions of such influential figures. Inauguration day 2025"Preparation for inauguration Day " everything is looking good " congratulations to everyone. We all put away our differences " and focused on one common Goal ' saving America "Let's Be thankful " pic.twitter.com/zHXfD1oa7A — Robert The Builder (@NobodymrRobert) November 26, 2024 The gathering at Trump’s inauguration will also potentially feature outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris. Her presence signals possible shifts in future political strategies and alliances. With multiple discussions occurring between White House chief of staff Jeff Zients and incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles, the transition process progresses, although some agreements remain unsigned, affecting security clearances. Looking Ahead This anticipated display of unity could transform current political discourse. As Trump prepares for inauguration outside the Capitol, aligning both administrations’ goals, priorities, and values appears essential. While still fraught with challenges, finding common ground can lead to more effective governance. Both Biden and Trump have recognized the need for cordial interactions during meetings facilitated by the Biden administration to hasten a positive transition. The upcoming event celebrates democracy while hinting at potential future accommodations and alliances. Biden’s adherence to tradition in celebrating national values, despite past discord, serves as a reminder of the enduring strength of democratic institutions. The hope for a seamless exchange of power remains crucial in upholding the nation’s foundational beliefs. Sources: Biden will be at the inauguration. Biden to attend inauguration. The post Biden will be at Trump’s INAUGURATION appeared first on The Conservative Brief.

In our lives, we end up celebrating quite a few milestone birthdays. The ones that happen when we’re still young, like becoming a teenager or turning 16, tend to be quite exciting. But as we get older, those milestone birthdays start to get a bit… well, anxiety-inducing. For many of us, our 30th birthday is the first one that can be a bit difficult — but it doesn’t have to be that way! And this thoughtful husband proves it. Meet Andrés, a man who put so much thought and effort into his wife’s 30th birthday that millions of people became invested. It all started in the month leading up to his wife’s big day. Out of nowhere, he revealed he had a surprise. Turns out, he had already bought her birthday gifts — and there were quite a few of them! At least 30, to be exact. But rather than giving them to her, he turned it into a game! @getthecookies Got her good @lauraclouns #30daysto30 #birthdaypunchboard #30days #lovelanguage #trending #30for30 ♬ original sound – Andrés & Laura Would you look at that adorable setup!? The color-coordinated gift bags and birthday sign really are the cherry on top of this already fantastic birthday extravaganza! As you might imagine, just seeing day one of Laura’s birthday gifts was not enough for the millions of people who saw that video. Luckily, both Andrés and Laura were happy to share the rest! Watch This Thoughtful Husband Surprise His Wife With 30 Birthday Gifts Leading Up to Her 30th Birthday @getthecookies Replying to @Channy (she/her) pardon our attire we were going to a trunk or treat event right after, guess who we are #day4 #30daysto30 #trending #birthdaypunchboard #30days #lovelanguage ♬ original sound – Andrés & Laura While I won’t be sharing each day with you, I will be sharing some of my favorites. As you might have noticed, the video above took place around Halloween. Their costumes alone make this video amazing, but so does Laura’s choice to “sucker punch” her choice of gift that day! Then there’s the iconic gift from day 22… @getthecookies Gimble fail, awesome gift tho #fyp #30daysto30 #relationshipgoals #husbandwife @lauraclouns ♬ original sound – Andrés & Laura By this point, it’s clear that Laura had developed a method in choosing her next gift. Considering the fact that this led to her revealing a shirt with a raccoon on it that says, “Stay Trashy,” it’s safe to say she made the right choice. Finally, let’s check out the very last day of Laura’s birthday extravaganza. @getthecookies #treatyourself @lauraclouns #fyp #30daysto30 #husbandwife #viralvideo ♬ original sound – Andrés & Laura While Laura is understandably bummed that her birthday extravaganza has come to an end, it’s clear she had an absolute blast. What a sweet, perfect way to celebrate such a huge milestone! “This is the ultimate green flag,” someone in the comment section points out. “Not because he bought her stuff but because of his thoughtfulness, creativity and the joy he takes in making her feel special.” You can find the source of this story’s featured image here! The post Thoughtful Husband Alert: “When You Surprise Your Wife With Her Own Love Language” appeared first on InspireMore.

UNC is ready for a new route

A post made on X claims former First Lady Michelle Obama regrets endorsing 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. “Michelle Obama Regrets Backing Kamala Harris” – Soap Spoiler Interesting that Michelle Obama now regrets backing the wrong horse i.e. Kamala Harris? You were her best friend. You and your husband stuck it down our throat. NO […]