"Nobody’s going to understand or care that I’m too tired." The post Nina Simone once discussed the stifling pressures faced by musicians first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

"That show is still my number one." The post Led Zeppelin at the Silverdome ’77: how the record-breaking concert unfurled first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

How many Nazis does it take to ruin a country? The Nazi party never won a majority in a free German election. Yet their poison effectively contaminated the whole. There were resistance movements on a small and ineffective scale‚ but the society as a whole did what it was asked to do and beyond. Biden wants to force Israel to cave to Hamas … and to do nothing effective to change the Palestinian culture of Nazi hate.  The Nazis actively controlled the culture‚ expunging the things they didn’t like. And they mined a deep seam of hatred that ran for centuries‚ in which the Jews were held to be an enemy so cunning and so ruthless that they could thwart God’s plan for salvation while conniving to control‚ destroy‚ or ruin everyone else. (READ MORE from Shmuel Klatzkin: Jordan Peterson Reclaims Religious Beliefs That Promote Freedom) Historian Daniel Goldhagen chronicled the participation of ordinary Germans in the organized extermination of the Jews of Europe. He found that‚ far from being reluctant and only complying with orders under dire threat of force‚ ordinary Germans took the initiative in attacking‚ torturing‚ and killing Jews.  We are accustomed of thinking that such behavior is aberrant. Holocaust denial seems reasonable if we assume that all people are like us and abhor such behavior. We wouldn’t ever do such a thing‚ so obviously no one would. But they do. And for it to be on a large scale‚ there is always a cultural breakdown involved‚ a renunciation‚ a turning away from the values of the of Jerusalem with the best of Athens that has been the foundation of free societies. We are molded by our culture. When that culture is underlain with such concepts as “love your neighbor as yourself” or “we are created in the image of the divine‚” we are careful and critical when we examine problems. But if those principles are ditched in favor of the narrative that  certain people are by nature entirely to blame for the disasters in our lives‚ we quite naturally are angry with those people who we are told are hurting us. We would be willing to do all kinds of things to them as they are not of the same humanity as we are.. Goldhagen writes: The belief that the Jews had already greatly harmed Germans and would always work to injure them still more‚ at least partly explains the tremendous cruelty that Germans inflicted on Jews … Demonological antisemitism … helped to produce cruelty towards Jews on [a] vast scale; perpetrating such cruelty often became a norm with no exceptions … Such beliefs were the necessary cause of such widespread‚ frequent‚ thorough‚ and unmerciful brutality towards the Jews‚ for they removed the Jews utterly from the purview of the ethical code that protected non-Jewish members of society. It seems beyond serious doubt that it is the same with the heirs of the Nazis in Gaza. Deborah Danan quotes an Israeli who survived the October 7 in a safe room: “The reality proves that there’s no such thing as a bilti me’urav (uninvolved) in Gaza. All of Gaza is Hamas.” While that is too absolute to be literally true‚ it seems effectively true‚ as her Tablet article (January 24) makes clear: Around 700 Palestinians stormed Barad’s kibbutz of Nir Oz — less than a five-minute drive from Gaza — that day‚ CCTV footage shows. The overwhelming majority of those — estimated by Eran Smilansky‚ a member of the kibbutz’s security squad‚ to be around 550 — were civilians. They were largely unarmed and not in uniform. Some of those civilians carried out wholesale acts of terror themselves‚ including rape and abduction — and in some cases‚ the eventual sale of hostages to Hamas — while others abetted the terrorists. Others still simply took advantage of the porous border to loot Israeli homes and farms‚ including stealing hundreds of thousands of shekels in agricultural equipment. (READ MORE: Do Not Let Hamas Escape Into Exile) Videos show the celebration that greeted the raiders on their return to Gaza. Videos show large crowds cheering‚ people spitting at the hostages‚ others kicking and spitting on the broken body of a woman killed by her captors. Later‚ on the release of some hostages in return for many times their number of convicted terrorists‚ crowds jeered‚ howled‚ and spat at the captives. Video records a great deal of passion‚ savage‚ and perversity‚ entirely unforced.  Perhaps most damning is the observation of an Israeli from the devastated left-wing kibbutz Be’eri‚ home of many who actively believed in rapprochement with Gaza. On October 7‚ the Israeli’s son was taken hostage. His attitude towards Gaza‚ for decades charitable‚ had changed. His working hypothesis had been disproved by reality. He said to Danan: “I don’t differentiate between [Gaza civilians] and Hamas. Let me know of one Palestinian in Gaza who tried to save a Jew and maybe I’ll change my mind.” The culture of the elites‚ stealthily introduced to our schools and then to our entrenched government‚ trades in the blame business. They assign blame‚ not by the principles of our religious and philosophical traditions that formed our culture for centuries‚ but by a neat grid matrix of group identity. All the moral work is done by assignment — one belongs to a group and that group has its position either as a victim or an oppressor. No debate may be held on the assignments‚ as no oppressor would admit being one.  The Jews are an oppressor in this matrix. End of story. It dovetails exactly with the Nazi narrative‚ which is‚ with some small adjustments‚ the narrative of Hamas and the culture of both Gaza and the PA‚ informing every child from their first breath through their death as “martyrs.” The Jew is not human‚ the Jew is demonic. This is supported by taxpayer dollars through the UN‚ whose UNRWA agency provides textbooks for Palestinian schoolchildren. A 2017 study of these textbooks by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and two other organizations concluded: UNRWA‚ in fact‚ not only does propagate a non-peaceful line contrary to UN resolutions on the Middle East‚ and not only does allow the presentation of Israel and its Jewish citizens as illegitimate with heavy layers of demonization. UNRWA also betrays its moral obligation toward the Palestinian children and youths’ human rights and well-being‚ by letting the PA prepare them for a future war with Israel. That war has arrived‚ and many of those students are suffering from it. Yet our Administration totters and weaves about‚ equivocating‚ desperately trying to find a place where the grim woke victimology that Obama nourished can be crammed into a narrative of reasonable support for Israel‚ which is the desire of a large majority of Americans. Biden wants to force Israel to cave to Hamas‚ to allow it continued control‚ to claim a great victory‚ and to do nothing effective to change the Palestinian culture of Nazi hate. (READ MORE: Israel’s High Court Pulls a Dred Scott) This new Nazism cannot be accommodated at all. Let its military be utterly crushed and the culture of hatred given no place at all. As we de-Nazified Germany‚ so must Gaza and the PA be de-Nazified as well. The last thing to do is to reward undying‚ eliminationist hatred with sovereignty and international respect. Clean the cancerous culture out. No more October 7s.   The post First‚ De-Nazify Gaza appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

Immigration has been a hot-button issue for years. But with Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s recent declaration that illegal immigration at America’s southern border constitutes an “invasion‚” the button has gone from hot to scorching. Many self-described but poorly-catechized Catholics — particularly of the terminally-online keyboard warrior variety — have decried Abbott’s stand at the border‚ mischaracterizing it as uncharitable and even unchristian. But the Lone Star State’s governor‚ himself a convert to Catholicism‚ clearly has an understanding of the Catholic Church’s teaching on immigration‚ borders‚ and national sovereignty. Even Pope Francis … emphasized in a 2017 interview‚ “Can borders be controlled? Yes‚ each country has a right to control its borders‚ who enters and who leaves.” The inextricable relationship between borders and national identity‚ culture‚ and sovereignty was for so long understood that few popes ever spoke on the relationship between borders and immigration before the World Wars. The great Doctor of the Church St. Thomas Aquinas wrote on borders and immigration in his 13th century masterwork the Summa Theologica. Relying on analysis of Sacred Scripture‚ Aquinas explained that while nations are called to exercise charity to foreigners‚ each nation’s chief responsibility is to its own people‚ with the dual aims of preserving national unity and the common good. (READ MORE from S.A. McCarthy: Understanding Pope Francis’s Comments on Hell) A nation’s relations with foreigners‚ Aquinas explained‚ may be “twofold: peaceful‚ and hostile: and in directing both kinds of relation the Law contained suitable precepts.” That is to say‚ God’s Law demands nations respond differently to peaceful and hostile foreigners. While Aquinas emphasized that foreigners should be treated with dignity and not abused‚ he declared that a nation has the right to reject or repel immigrants it deems “hostile.” Furthermore‚ in order for immigrants to be adopted into a country‚ they must first adopt that country’s culture and way of life. “The reason for this‚” he explained‚ “was that if foreigners were allowed to meddle with the affairs of a nation as soon as they settled down in its midst‚ many dangers might occur‚ since the foreigners not yet having the common good firmly at heart might attempt something hurtful to the people.” It is perhaps difficult to recall that Aquinas was writing centuries before democratic republics would come into existence‚ in an age of monarchs and knights‚ where the voting booth was not yet even a glimmer in man’s imagination. Many conservatives’ comments on immigration today are reminiscent of the Angelic Doctor’s reasoning. Centuries later‚ especially in the wake of World War II‚ immigration escalated exponentially‚ prompting Catholic leaders to speak on the subject in order to inform the consciences of the faithful. Pope Pius XII was one of the first pontiffs to directly and clearly address the issue of immigration‚ laying particular emphasis on not only the common good of a nation but the common good of the whole human race. Witnessing countless masses of refugees displaced by the near-global conflict‚ Pius XII asked Americans in a 1949 address‚ “Is the policy concerning immigration as liberal as the natural resources of a country so abundantly blessed by the Creator would allow and as the needs of other countries seem to require?” In his 1952 Apostolic Exhortation Exsul Familia Nazarethana‚ Pius XII wrote: Since land everywhere offers the possibility of supporting a large number of people‚ the sovereignty of the State‚ although it must be respected‚ cannot be exaggerated to the point that access to this land is‚ for inadequate or unjustified reasons‚ denied to needy and decent people from other nations‚ provided of course‚ that the public wealth‚ considered very carefully‚ does not forbid this. The pontiff was speaking of immigration of necessity — not of want‚ not of whim‚ but of necessity — the sort of immigration Aquinas would classify as “peaceful.” Families displaced by war and violence still seek shelter in nations blessed by God with abundant riches‚ and while every nation has a duty to its own people‚ it has also a duty to mankind as a whole. (READ MORE: Archdiocese Challenges Child Abuse Victims Act) But hundreds of thousands of fighting-age males are not necessarily fleeing war — and if they were‚ they would be cowards‚ leaving behind their women and children while they refuse to fight. Asylum claims are too readily accepted by the derelict government and its agents. Even fleeing economic impoverishment is not always necessary: America’s success is not predicated simply on its geography and topography‚ but on the will‚ imagination‚ and fiery spirit of its people; if America can produce a culture of success and prosperity‚ so also can other nations‚ if they are not readily abandoned by their own people. The late Pope Benedict XVI spoke of this principle in his 2013 Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees‚ saying‚ “[E]ven before the right to migrate‚ there is need to reaffirm the right not to emigrate‚ that is‚ to remain in one’s homeland.” That is to say‚ a right to emigrate‚ to leave one’s own country and attempt to enter another’s‚ may be mitigated or nullified if one does not avail oneself of the right to simply remain in one’s own country. There is the further problem of what Aquinas would classify as “hostile” immigrants. America’s southern border is being flooded with gang members and cartel agents‚ drug-smugglers carrying inordinately lethal doses of fentanyl‚ potential and even confirmed terrorists from across the Atlantic. And yet the present administration’s obscenely lax policies and practical weaponization of “parole” procedures have admitted millions of illegal immigrants into the nation — nearly three-quarters of a million through “parole” procedures in 2023 alone! Then there is the very nature of illegal immigration. Aquinas stressed the importance of respect for a nation’s laws and assimilation for its culture. So also did Pope Pius XII when he said that an immigrant “must be conscious of what he owes the people that welcomes him and tries to facilitate his progressive adaptation to his new way of life.” By the very mode of entry sought by illegal immigrants‚ they are flouting and violating the very first set of American laws they encounter. How can they be expected to respect the remainder of the nation’s laws or assimilate to the American way of life (which is being rapidly eroded by the immigration crisis) if they will not even attempt to enter the nation legally? In order to prevent the undermining and eventual destruction of a nation’s laws‚ culture‚ and way of life‚ stringent immigration regulation is necessary. Recognizing this as both a reality and a good‚ the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: Political authorities‚ for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible‚ may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions‚ especially with regard to the immigrants’ duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them‚ to obey its laws‚ and to assist in carrying civic burdens. There are‚ of course‚ other factors to consider with immigration‚ such as the natural resources and economic state of the country receiving immigrants — the Catechism again explains‚ “The more prosperous nations are obliged‚ to the extent they are able‚ to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin.” (Emphasis added.) This is why Pope St. John Paul II stated‚ in his 2001 Message for the World Day of Peace‚ “The challenge is to combine the welcome due to every human being‚ especially when in need‚ with a reckoning of what is necessary for both the local inhabitants and the new arrivals to live a dignified and peaceful life.” (READ MORE: In 2023‚ Nicaragua Was No Place To Be Catholic) The regulation of one’s borders‚ then‚ is most certainly a principle not only permitted but advocated by the Catholic Church‚ going back centuries and centuries. Even Pope Francis‚ a vocal proponent of accepting and assisting refugees in particular‚ emphasized in a 2017 interview‚ “Can borders be controlled? Yes‚ each country has a right to control its borders‚ who enters and who leaves‚ and countries that are in danger — of terrorism or the like — have more right to control them more.” Although the circumstances of the modern world have changed what immigration looks like and even how it’s discussed‚ Catholic teaching addresses the unchanging moral dimension of the issue. The post Strangers in a Strange Land: The Catholic Church and Immigration appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden spoke at a Virginia campaign rally Tuesday billed as a talk about abortion and “reproductive freedom.” Pro-Palestinian activists in the audience‚ however‚ had other plans. They heckled Biden at least 10 times‚ calling the president “Genocide Joe” and shouting “Free Palestine.” Worse‚ they don’t see that Biden’s support of Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks represents his finest hour. The Biden faithful tried to shout down the hecklers. “Four more years‚” some chanted. And: “Let’s go‚ Joe.” “This is going to go on for a while‚” the president shrugged. “They’ve got this planned.” This is going to go on for a while — and that could pose a problem for an incumbent Democrat who has been trailing former President Donald Trump in major polls. To win in November‚ the 81-year-old incumbent needs young and minority voters‚ some of whom have made public their intent to not vote for Biden in November because they sympathize with the terrorist group Hamas in its war against Israel. A December Harvard CAPS-Harris survey of more than 2‚000 registered voters found that Americans support Israel more than Hamas by a huge margin of 81 to 19‚ but that voters ages 18-24 are evenly split. (READ MORE from Debra Saunders: The Other New Hampshire Primary: No Debates‚ No Drama‚ No Biden) Last month‚ NBC News reported on a letter to the president signed by 40-plus White House and executive branch interns. The letter urged Biden “to call for a permanent ceasefire now‚ a release of all hostages including Palestinian political prisoners‚ and to support a diplomatic solution that will put an end to the illegal occupation and the Israeli apartheid.” Be it noted‚ Biden would not use terms like “Israeli apartheid” or refer to Israel’s military campaign against Hamas as “genocide.” Biden supports Israel and is keenly aware that the death and destruction happening in Gaza fall on Hamas. The interns did not sign the letter by name. Instead‚ they identified themselves as “Palestinian‚ Jewish‚ Arab‚ Muslim‚ Christian‚ Black‚ Asian‚ Latino‚ White‚ and Queer‚” but they identified the offices in which they work. So they care enough to badmouth their boss‚ but not so much that they want to put their names on it. Courage. Also‚ these kids clearly don’t understand the first rule for political staffers: Never forget that nobody elected you. When you’re job hunting‚ look for elected officials who share your politics. Later‚ if you disagree‚ you remind yourself that voters put them in office‚ not you. If you don’t like it‚ resign. If Biden is getting dissed by his own interns‚ what does that mean for his reelection effort? Mark Dubowitz‚ chief executive of The Foundation for Defense of Democracies‚ told me the issue could work in Biden’s favor. “The polling suggests that the majority of Americans support Israel over Hamas and these numbers skew even more favorably for Israel among older voters most likely to show up on Election Day‚” Dubowitz wrote in an email. “While the election won’t turn decisively on this issue‚ the data reveals that it won’t hurt Biden and may even help him attract support from the moderate Democrats‚ independents and disaffected‚ anti-Trump Republicans who are even more pro-Israel than the average voter.” (READ MORE: ‘Free Media’ for Trump Feels Like 2016 Again) Could someone please alert the nameless White House interns who somehow believe “the pleas of the American people have been heard and thus far‚ ignored?” They are so clueless they think they’re in the majority. Worse‚ they don’t see that Biden’s support of Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks represents his finest hour. Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM The post Biden White House Interns: Nobody Cares What You Think appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.