A crucial point to keep in mind: the 33 hostages to be released over the next 6 weeks - including as many dead bodies as Hamas judges it can get away with - are all civilians - two babies, women, and older men - except for five noncombat female teen soldiers.
Let that sink in. Innocent civilians from babies to grandparents and unarmed female IDF border observers, abducted and horribly mistreated for the past 15 months.
The price to “bring them home”?
1) The release of a thousand terrorists from Israeli jails of whom hundreds are convicted murderers, who will most certainly go on to kill again, PLUS
2) withdrawing from certain areas in Gaza, thereby allowing Hamas to reconstitute in these areas, PLUS
3) allowing Gazans to return to northern Gaza where as yet still buried weapons caches await their new masters, and still intact terror tunnels to be reoccupied, PLUS 4) increasing aid flow into Gaza so Hamas can steal even more and further cement their hold on the populace.
And that’s just Phase One.
At what point does the permanent removal of Hamas as a governing and military force occur, thereby allowing for Biden’s vaunted “the day after”?
The incredible success of such civilian abductions - low cost and high reward for the average fanatical jihadist - will only incentivize such hostage taking in the future, both in Israel and around the world. This is simple psychology and should come as no surprise to any rational person. Citizens of other liberal democracies are advised to keep this in mind when contemplating the various nefarious actors who threaten their own countries.
It is truly tragic that minimal effort has gone into finding the proper disincentives to both taking and holding hostages by those to whom martyrdom is not a deterrent either for themselves or their families.
I am terribly disappointed with what I saw to be a beacon of rational reporting once again platforming a man who pretends to be a woman, who uses our bathrooms, who makes fun of actual women, while kowtowing to his need to affirmation and acceptance as a woman. Two lesbians acquiescing to his need to pervert what it means to be a woman is truly galling. While I am a firm believer in First Amendment rights, the fact that the FP cannot see how it is perpetuating the absurd and extremely harmful lie that one must respect a man's delusion and give voice to someone who believes that rearranging secondary sex characteristics and stepping on the heads of women is the right thing to do.
Wu promotes gender interventions on children. Certainly, the FP could find a more suitable person to represent its brand.
Parents are suffering all over our country as our children get go down the garden path to destruction of their bodies.
I wish you could feel the pain of the parents for even one hour, and then you would know that Brianna Wu should not be lauded. Therefore I shall unsubscribe from your publication that I truly enjoyed and encourage the parent groups and the women groups to do the same. That is the only power that I wield, as await for reality to return and hope every day that women and men start standing up for women, instead of men with fetishes.
Erin Friday, Esq.
Mother of a child who used to believe that she could change sex
Curious what made you change your mind? This Esq. never believed biological sex could be changed. Sorry you were hoodwinked. I am sure you have endured tremendous pain.
Erin, be careful the censors here might ban you. I actually like listening to Wu. In doing some research on Wu's view on children transitioning, I discovered Wu has a medical condition which will result in the inability to speak. While this is awful for Wu, perhaps Wu's contribution to the FP will be limited. Makes me wonder if this condition is caused by the drugs required to maintain a feminine appearance.
The moment that Trump floated DeSantis's name for Secretary of Defense, Hegseth's nomination was safe. Imagine that you are a DOD employee or supplier or lobbyist, which would you prefer -- the bureaucratic broom or the idealist?
Brianna Wu?!!! I would unsubscribe if it weren’t for Nellie Bowles and TGIF. I’m sick of men pretending to be women. And I really don’t want to support it financially.
I never believed one could change sex - my daughter did. Censor away I will speak truth and be unafraid when my job in this world is to protect children and vulnerable adults.
I encourage you to unsubscribe. It is the only power that we have to voice our disdain for another publication that does not give a shit about women and the children that are being harmed in the gender cult.
My husband is a physician and a nurse recently returned to our rural hospital after working at UW Madison Hospital. She could not stand what the physicians were doing to maim human bodies in the name of "gender transition."
Please encourage your husband and nurse to speak out. Find a doctor group that fits their belief system. If they need help- dm at Twitter erinfriday75490. We need collective voices
I know this comment might not garner me any love, but...I'd be more inclined to pay attention to Brianna Wu if I didn't know he is a man pretending to be a woman. If one is that confused about one's identity, how can that person articulate the truth on other matters?
The Honestly podcast was a bit ridiculous from the start. As many others have stated, I can't listen to the opinion of a dude pretending to be a dudette. It seems like a bad remake of Tropic Thunder with RDJr's character..." I know who I am! I'm a dude playing the dude, disguised as another dude!!"
Batya stated that the water issue with the fire hydrants was due to FF's using all the water in one area of the city. That is unlikely the issue. After a painful search on the water and power utility's website, I was able to cipher some info, though their website is mostly a large labyrinth of "look at how awesome we are!" info.
As with most water utilities, it seems that they have numerous water storage options throughout the area that provide water storage. Most, if not all municipal water systems are sectioned into zones or "systems" to prevent what she described from happening. If one storage facility is inoperable, for any reason, the surrounding storage facilities can supplement the areas having low water or low pressure issues. Also, the separate systems are usually only divided by water valves that can be opened to connect the separate systems together when needed, such as when a fire depletes the initial water system.
If by chance the LA water system is indeed one giant water system without failsafe valves and reservoirs, that is a major issue that has aided in the destruction of the communities where the fires are. The responsibility of poorly designed utility systems fall on city, county and state leaders. People like the mayor and governor because they are who appoints or hires public utility commission leaders.
I normally love what Batya says even though I disagree with a fair amount of her views, but maybe she could research a bit to reinforce her opinions so that they are expressed as facts. Keep emotions out of the conversation to fix the broken systems, focus on the solutions.
In closing, making excuses for leaders that repeatedly have shown their incompetence reflect poorly on those who excuse them. Admit the mistakes, hold accountable the people that made the mistakes and move forward to fix them. And finally, STOP ELECTING IGNORANT POLITICIANS TO LEAD YOU!!!
If Harris cannot even be civil with the Bidens how can we expect her to have manners with a member of the winning ticket? Politicians can be great actors but apparently the feelings are so strong between the Bidens and Harris that they cannot even fake being civil to each other during a Presidential funeral on display for the entire world to see. You cannot teach manners to a grown woman, this is about government property owned by the taxpayers. Protocols cannot be forced on to people who play by their own rules.
All the complaints here about biased reporting coming from either PBS, cable news channels and the legacy channels.
What should be really be questioned is why no one mentions Ronald Reagan and his Republican party agenda to reverse The Fairness Doctrine established back in 1949. Even then Congress was concerned of the power of national medias control of opinion.
The Fairness Doctrine was used to drive conservative commentators off the air. There was nothing fair about it. Only after its repeal were people like Rush Limbaugh able to penetrate the liberal monopoly in broadcast media.
"Israel and Hamas are now in the final stages of agreeing on a ceasefire deal, according to Arab, U.S., and Israeli officials. The deal outlines three phases. First, Hamas would swap 33 women and children, plus hostages older than 50, for “many hundreds” of Palestinian prisoners, during a 42-day ceasefire. Second, all remaining male Israeli hostages would be released in exchange for the IDF’s withdrawal from Gaza. In the third phase, once withdrawal is complete, Hamas would give up the bodies of deceased hostages and prisoners. The announcement comes a week after president-elect Donald Trump warned that “all hell will break out” if Hamas did not return the hostages by the time he takes office."
This cease fire deal may very well be a last gasp effort by the Biden administration to bind both Israel and the US to its (Biden's) vision of a two-state, stop killing off Hamas, implicitly blame Israel for it all, policies. Retired Navy intelligence officer J.E. Dyer points out here that Trump has never supported the cease fire – hostages released Yes!... ceasefire not his agenda. She notes that the hell he would release would be provided by Israel. The current effort, and the cheer leading from the media and other pro-Palestinian on-lookers, has all the earmarks of a, dare I say, disinformation campaign? Link to her piece below:
Eli's blessing of Pete is not serious. SASC is not serious by dignifying this nomination.
Pete's record of abusive sex and of alcohol would disqualify him for enlistment in any of our services. It is called dumbing down because they think we are stupid.
I am sorry to read TFP is now genuflecting to Trump and MAGA
I'm not sure PH is the best person for the job, but the Democrats' strategy to prove he's unfit because Pete is an adulter is laughable considering their distain for what is referred to as "family values." (For example rejection of the nuclear family, erasure of women as mothers, castration children in the name of gender equity.) Perhaps they failed to inquire about topics that actually pertain to defense because they believe the military is unnecessary.
They continue to be convinced that their ineffective diplomacy and talent for appeasement holds our enemies in their thrall.
I don’t know if exploring an alternative to Tik-tok really qualifies as intrepid. It is not as if going on a social media site is particularly risky Not like summitting K2 for example,) unless you count the dangers of leftist contagion. Since River is at FP, he is already infected.
Also just say “FP’s River Paige investigates…”. He doesn’t need to be intrepid, courageous, or even our own. This kind of backslapping is tiresome and risks repetitive stress injury.
Is Moynihan still doing the Free Press Live? Batya is lovely and enjoyable, even if horribly wrong about so much, but the best Batya bits are when Michael Moynihan is making gentle fun of her.
Re: Nicotine rules. I quit in 2005, but I am going to buy a pack of Camels on principle. Biden is such a dork. 🐪🐪🐪
Regarding the possible upcoming hostage “deal”:
A crucial point to keep in mind: the 33 hostages to be released over the next 6 weeks - including as many dead bodies as Hamas judges it can get away with - are all civilians - two babies, women, and older men - except for five noncombat female teen soldiers.
Let that sink in. Innocent civilians from babies to grandparents and unarmed female IDF border observers, abducted and horribly mistreated for the past 15 months.
The price to “bring them home”?
1) The release of a thousand terrorists from Israeli jails of whom hundreds are convicted murderers, who will most certainly go on to kill again, PLUS
2) withdrawing from certain areas in Gaza, thereby allowing Hamas to reconstitute in these areas, PLUS
3) allowing Gazans to return to northern Gaza where as yet still buried weapons caches await their new masters, and still intact terror tunnels to be reoccupied, PLUS 4) increasing aid flow into Gaza so Hamas can steal even more and further cement their hold on the populace.
And that’s just Phase One.
At what point does the permanent removal of Hamas as a governing and military force occur, thereby allowing for Biden’s vaunted “the day after”?
The incredible success of such civilian abductions - low cost and high reward for the average fanatical jihadist - will only incentivize such hostage taking in the future, both in Israel and around the world. This is simple psychology and should come as no surprise to any rational person. Citizens of other liberal democracies are advised to keep this in mind when contemplating the various nefarious actors who threaten their own countries.
It is truly tragic that minimal effort has gone into finding the proper disincentives to both taking and holding hostages by those to whom martyrdom is not a deterrent either for themselves or their families.
LOL!!!!
https://www.newportnewstimes.com/news_free/u-s-house-fails-to-reauthorize-20-year-old-bipartisan-bill-to-fund-rural-schools/article_b50bb5f3-77ab-565c-8c73-c0b3b288c670.html
I am terribly disappointed with what I saw to be a beacon of rational reporting once again platforming a man who pretends to be a woman, who uses our bathrooms, who makes fun of actual women, while kowtowing to his need to affirmation and acceptance as a woman. Two lesbians acquiescing to his need to pervert what it means to be a woman is truly galling. While I am a firm believer in First Amendment rights, the fact that the FP cannot see how it is perpetuating the absurd and extremely harmful lie that one must respect a man's delusion and give voice to someone who believes that rearranging secondary sex characteristics and stepping on the heads of women is the right thing to do.
Wu promotes gender interventions on children. Certainly, the FP could find a more suitable person to represent its brand.
Parents are suffering all over our country as our children get go down the garden path to destruction of their bodies.
I wish you could feel the pain of the parents for even one hour, and then you would know that Brianna Wu should not be lauded. Therefore I shall unsubscribe from your publication that I truly enjoyed and encourage the parent groups and the women groups to do the same. That is the only power that I wield, as await for reality to return and hope every day that women and men start standing up for women, instead of men with fetishes.
Erin Friday, Esq.
Mother of a child who used to believe that she could change sex
Curious what made you change your mind? This Esq. never believed biological sex could be changed. Sorry you were hoodwinked. I am sure you have endured tremendous pain.
Erin, be careful the censors here might ban you. I actually like listening to Wu. In doing some research on Wu's view on children transitioning, I discovered Wu has a medical condition which will result in the inability to speak. While this is awful for Wu, perhaps Wu's contribution to the FP will be limited. Makes me wonder if this condition is caused by the drugs required to maintain a feminine appearance.
The moment that Trump floated DeSantis's name for Secretary of Defense, Hegseth's nomination was safe. Imagine that you are a DOD employee or supplier or lobbyist, which would you prefer -- the bureaucratic broom or the idealist?
Brianna Wu?!!! I would unsubscribe if it weren’t for Nellie Bowles and TGIF. I’m sick of men pretending to be women. And I really don’t want to support it financially.
I never believed one could change sex - my daughter did. Censor away I will speak truth and be unafraid when my job in this world is to protect children and vulnerable adults.
I encourage you to unsubscribe. It is the only power that we have to voice our disdain for another publication that does not give a shit about women and the children that are being harmed in the gender cult.
My husband is a physician and a nurse recently returned to our rural hospital after working at UW Madison Hospital. She could not stand what the physicians were doing to maim human bodies in the name of "gender transition."
Please encourage your husband and nurse to speak out. Find a doctor group that fits their belief system. If they need help- dm at Twitter erinfriday75490. We need collective voices
I know this comment might not garner me any love, but...I'd be more inclined to pay attention to Brianna Wu if I didn't know he is a man pretending to be a woman. If one is that confused about one's identity, how can that person articulate the truth on other matters?
Wu is articulating opinion not truth.
I love you.
The Honestly podcast was a bit ridiculous from the start. As many others have stated, I can't listen to the opinion of a dude pretending to be a dudette. It seems like a bad remake of Tropic Thunder with RDJr's character..." I know who I am! I'm a dude playing the dude, disguised as another dude!!"
Batya stated that the water issue with the fire hydrants was due to FF's using all the water in one area of the city. That is unlikely the issue. After a painful search on the water and power utility's website, I was able to cipher some info, though their website is mostly a large labyrinth of "look at how awesome we are!" info.
As with most water utilities, it seems that they have numerous water storage options throughout the area that provide water storage. Most, if not all municipal water systems are sectioned into zones or "systems" to prevent what she described from happening. If one storage facility is inoperable, for any reason, the surrounding storage facilities can supplement the areas having low water or low pressure issues. Also, the separate systems are usually only divided by water valves that can be opened to connect the separate systems together when needed, such as when a fire depletes the initial water system.
If by chance the LA water system is indeed one giant water system without failsafe valves and reservoirs, that is a major issue that has aided in the destruction of the communities where the fires are. The responsibility of poorly designed utility systems fall on city, county and state leaders. People like the mayor and governor because they are who appoints or hires public utility commission leaders.
I normally love what Batya says even though I disagree with a fair amount of her views, but maybe she could research a bit to reinforce her opinions so that they are expressed as facts. Keep emotions out of the conversation to fix the broken systems, focus on the solutions.
In closing, making excuses for leaders that repeatedly have shown their incompetence reflect poorly on those who excuse them. Admit the mistakes, hold accountable the people that made the mistakes and move forward to fix them. And finally, STOP ELECTING IGNORANT POLITICIANS TO LEAD YOU!!!
If Harris cannot even be civil with the Bidens how can we expect her to have manners with a member of the winning ticket? Politicians can be great actors but apparently the feelings are so strong between the Bidens and Harris that they cannot even fake being civil to each other during a Presidential funeral on display for the entire world to see. You cannot teach manners to a grown woman, this is about government property owned by the taxpayers. Protocols cannot be forced on to people who play by their own rules.
All the complaints here about biased reporting coming from either PBS, cable news channels and the legacy channels.
What should be really be questioned is why no one mentions Ronald Reagan and his Republican party agenda to reverse The Fairness Doctrine established back in 1949. Even then Congress was concerned of the power of national medias control of opinion.
The Fairness Doctrine was used to drive conservative commentators off the air. There was nothing fair about it. Only after its repeal were people like Rush Limbaugh able to penetrate the liberal monopoly in broadcast media.
"Israel and Hamas are now in the final stages of agreeing on a ceasefire deal, according to Arab, U.S., and Israeli officials. The deal outlines three phases. First, Hamas would swap 33 women and children, plus hostages older than 50, for “many hundreds” of Palestinian prisoners, during a 42-day ceasefire. Second, all remaining male Israeli hostages would be released in exchange for the IDF’s withdrawal from Gaza. In the third phase, once withdrawal is complete, Hamas would give up the bodies of deceased hostages and prisoners. The announcement comes a week after president-elect Donald Trump warned that “all hell will break out” if Hamas did not return the hostages by the time he takes office."
This cease fire deal may very well be a last gasp effort by the Biden administration to bind both Israel and the US to its (Biden's) vision of a two-state, stop killing off Hamas, implicitly blame Israel for it all, policies. Retired Navy intelligence officer J.E. Dyer points out here that Trump has never supported the cease fire – hostages released Yes!... ceasefire not his agenda. She notes that the hell he would release would be provided by Israel. The current effort, and the cheer leading from the media and other pro-Palestinian on-lookers, has all the earmarks of a, dare I say, disinformation campaign? Link to her piece below:
https://theoptimisticconservative.wordpress.com/2025/01/14/thinking-aid-trumps-warning-to-hamas-is-about-hostages-not-a-ceasefire/
It sounds like a horrible "deal" for Israel especially leaving Hamas in Gaza.
all sound and fury signifying nothing
Eli's blessing of Pete is not serious. SASC is not serious by dignifying this nomination.
Pete's record of abusive sex and of alcohol would disqualify him for enlistment in any of our services. It is called dumbing down because they think we are stupid.
I am sorry to read TFP is now genuflecting to Trump and MAGA
He's never been charged of a sex crime, he was cleared. If you're saying affairs are disqualifying, half of Washington would have to resign.
Hegseth was great in the hearing. The Dem witch hunts will continue with other cabinet picks. Eli needs to take his TDS medication.
I'm not sure PH is the best person for the job, but the Democrats' strategy to prove he's unfit because Pete is an adulter is laughable considering their distain for what is referred to as "family values." (For example rejection of the nuclear family, erasure of women as mothers, castration children in the name of gender equity.) Perhaps they failed to inquire about topics that actually pertain to defense because they believe the military is unnecessary.
They continue to be convinced that their ineffective diplomacy and talent for appeasement holds our enemies in their thrall.
I don’t know if exploring an alternative to Tik-tok really qualifies as intrepid. It is not as if going on a social media site is particularly risky Not like summitting K2 for example,) unless you count the dangers of leftist contagion. Since River is at FP, he is already infected.
Also just say “FP’s River Paige investigates…”. He doesn’t need to be intrepid, courageous, or even our own. This kind of backslapping is tiresome and risks repetitive stress injury.
Is Moynihan still doing the Free Press Live? Batya is lovely and enjoyable, even if horribly wrong about so much, but the best Batya bits are when Michael Moynihan is making gentle fun of her.
Moynihan the day after the election was HILARIOUS, I think he might have still been a little tipsy.
It cannot be that Israel would allow Hamas in charge of Gaza. Is this for real?
I thought the plan was for the Palestinian Authority to be in charge. Which is just as bad really.
The only reason the PA is less dangerous than Hamas is because Hamas is more competent than the PA. I reckon the PA will be penetrated by Hamas.
Or thrown off the tops of high buildings. Which should have all been flattened.