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How to Ensure a Middle East War in Five Easy Steps

Via American Greatness

The new American Middle East policy is an extension of the new American domestic policy.

More than 2,500 rockets have landed in Israel over the past week. Some Arab Israeli citizens are terrorizing Jewish Israelis. Apparently, as the rockets fall, these citizens are to be Arab Islamic nationalists first, and Israelis last—even if they wisely prefer to live on the Israeli rather than the Palestinian side of Israel’s hated wall.

The usual Hamas sympathizers are promising death to the Jews on social media (so much for the idea that Twitter and Facebook are “shocked, shocked” by impolite expressions of the Trumpian sort).

Iran is always Iran—hubristic and chest-thumping that an obsequious United States will ease sanctions, allowing billions of dollars into the country, and thus empowering Iran to revive former levels of funding to Hezbollah and Hamas, to restructure the terrorist weaponry pipeline to Yemen, and to sanctify the Iran-deal trajectory to an Iranian bomb. Tehran just issued a third-rate video of the Republican Guard destroying the U.S. Capitol, apparently to show the world how it plans to humiliate an appeasing Biden State Department.

But why all this violence now? Of course, experts say the pretexts are cancellations of elections in the West Bank. And there is the need for the corrupt Palestinian Authority to find an enemy to scapegoat other than corrupt rival Hamas. Of course, they say, the Jews are—for the 1,000th time—“desecrating” the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and that the Israeli government is in a mess of disunity, without a unified majority voice. Of course, they say, there is the pretext of a court case over former pre-1947 property in Jerusalem—a bitter, but nevertheless still mostly private matter handled by the courts for years without an intifada.

Yet between 2017 and 2021 there was relatively little violence in Israel and on the West Bank. Whatever our ideologies and politics, we all know the one reason why there is chaos now and not then. And that constant in itself is a primer on the Middle East.

Trump Provoked Peace

The Trump Administration assumed that whenever there is perceived distance between the United States and democratic Israel, then unsavory players exploit the void and try things they otherwise would not. Israel’s enemies and even neutrals in the area see such a reset as encouragement to move in, on the assumption (correctly held) that American tensions with Israel always reflect weakness and hesitancy to be exploited.

For such a supposedly provocative Trump Administration, peace, not war, followed from its initiatives. It cut off the cash flow to the radical Palestinians, funneled through an anti-American U.N. “refugee” commission.

(Are East Prussians who were thrown out of their homes in Poland not long before the creation of Israel still considered“refugees,” and thus still talk of a “right of return” to “Danzig”? Do the descendants of nearly 1 million Jews ethnically cleansed from the Middle East still shake the keys of their ancestral homes in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt to cameras? And do the Uighurs have their own U.N. pipeline of financial aid? Answer those questions and you can decide whether anti-Israelism is anti-Semitism.)

The Trump Administration also had warned Iran that if the regime survived internal tensions, a collapsed economy, falling oil prices, sanctions, and constant intelligence efforts to disrupt its nuclear industries, it nevertheless would never get a bomb.

Arab regimes knew the dangerous messianic strains of Persian Shiite Khomeinism far better than those in the West. Yet it was oddly a surprise to the West that they were naturally more fearful of Tehran than of Tel Aviv. Or that these regimes were at least eager to use Israel either to destroy the Iranian bomb program or at least to divert Iranian attention to Jews.

In short, the Trump Administration, under the guidance of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, had begun to craft an effective deterrent Mideast foreign policy of calibrated realism without nation-building interventionism. If Russian mercenaries in Syria moved on U.S. troops, then they were obliterated.

Trump really did lead efforts to “bomb the sh-t” out of ISIS. If Iranian General Qasem Soleimani boldly traveled about Iraq as he was coordinating terrorist cliques in the Middle East, then the United States took him out. At some point, Iran, and its appendages such as Hamas and Hezbollah, were either too broke and weak to sustain their aggressions, or knew they had zero support in Washington, or they feared that they had no idea what the Americans might do on any given day in reaction to their terrorism.

It was within such a four-year matrix that terrorists thought it was better not to attack Israel. But if we were looking to achieve the exact opposite, then calm can become war in five easy steps… MORE.

Pentagon Surveilling Americans Without a Warrant, Senator Reveals

Via Motherboard

A letter obtained by Motherboard discusses internet browsing, location, and other forms of data.

The Pentagon is carrying out warrantless surveillance of Americans, according to a new letter written by Senator Ron Wyden and obtained by Motherboard.

Senator Wyden’s office asked the Department of Defense (DoD), which includes various military and intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), for detailed information about its data purchasing practices after Motherboard revealed special forces were buying location data. The responses also touched on military or intelligence use of internet browsing and other types of data, and prompted Wyden to demand more answers specifically about warrantless spying on American citizens.

Some of the answers the DoD provided were given in a form that means Wyden’s office cannot legally publish specifics on the surveillance; one answer in particular was classified. In the letter Wyden is pushing the DoD to release the information to the public. A Wyden aide told Motherboard that the Senator is unable to make the information public at this time, but believes it would meaningfully inform the debate around how the DoD is interpreting the law and its purchases of data.

“I write to urge you to release to the public information about the Department of Defense’s (DoD) warrantless surveillance of Americans,” the letter, addressed to Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, reads.

Do you work for any of the agencies named in this piece? We’d love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, OTR chat on jfcox@jabber.ccc.de, or email joseph.cox@vice.com.

Wyden and his staff with appropriate security clearances are able to review classified responses, a Wyden aide told Motherboard. Wyden’s office declined to provide Motherboard with specifics about the classified answer. But a Wyden aide said that the question related to the DoD buying internet metadata.

“Are any DoD components buying and using without a court order internet metadata, including ‘netflow’ and Domain Name System (DNS) records,” the question read, and asked whether those records were about “domestic internet communications (where the sender and recipient are both U.S. IP addresses)” and “internet communications where one side of the communication is a U.S. IP address and the other side is located abroad.”

Netflow data creates a picture of traffic flow and volume across a network. DNS records relate to when a user looks up a particular domain, and a system then converts that text into the specific IP address for a computer to understand; essentially a form of internet browsing history.

Wyden’s new letter to Austin urging the DoD to release that answer and others says “Information should only be classified if its unauthorized disclosure would cause damage to national security. The information provided by DoD in response to my questions does not meet that bar.”

The questions were specifically sent to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security in February 2021, Wyden’s letter adds. Beyond the NSA and DIA, the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security provides oversight to a range of agencies including the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). A Wyden aide said it is not clear if the answers go beyond the agencies that act under the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.

The DoD did not respond to a request for comment. MORE.

The Smallest-Ever Injectable Chip Hints at a New Cybernetic Medicine

Via Interesting Engineering

It’s the size of a dust mite.

Electronics are getting imperceptibly small, opening new avenues for medical technology to place advanced monitoring and treatment devices inside our bodies. And Columbia University engineers just demonstrated a new and revolutionary version of this, creating the world’s smallest single-chip system ever developed, according to a recent study published in the journal Science Advances.

And, critically, the tiny new chip can be implanted via a hypodermic needle to measure internal body temperature, and potentially much more.

A tiny computer chip was implanted into seven mice at once
The implant created by the engineers at Columbia is record-breakingly small, but it’s also breaking new ground in simply existing as a wholly functional, electronic circuit whose total volume is less than 0.1 cubic millimeter. In other words, it’s the size of a dust mite, not to mention far more compact than the world’s smallest computer, which is a cube-shaped device precisely 0.01-inches (0.3 mm) on each side. The smaller, new chip is only visible with a microscope, and pushed the envelope in power-sourcing and communications ingenuity design.

Typically, small electronics feature radio frequency (RF) modules capable of transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals, this method generates wavelengths too large to originate from devices as small as the new one. Alternatively, ultrasound wavelengths are far smaller at specific frequencies because the speed of sound is a lot slower than the speed of light at which all electromagnetic waves move. Consequently, the Colombia team of engineers integrated a piezoelectric transducer capable of functioning like an “antenna” for wireless communication and powering using ultrasound waves.

When incorporated with a low-power temperature sensor to transform the chip into a real-time temperature probe, the device possesses the ability to monitor body temperature in addition to small variations in temperature linked to the therapeutic use of ultrasound. In the study, the implant’s proof-of-concept was carried out on live mice, in which it employed ultrasound neurostimulation. This involved implanting up to seven mice at once with intramuscular injection via syringe.

The injectable chip could serve as an ‘early warning’ system against future outbreaks
Such tiny chips could also be implanted in the human body, and then communicate measured information and data wirelessly through ultrasound. As the device stands, it can only measure body temperature, but it could eventually also monitor respiratory function, glucose levels, and blood pressure. “We wanted to see how far we could push the limits on how small a functioning chip we could make,” said Ken Shepard, leader of the Columbia study, in a report from New Atlas. “This is a new idea of ‘chip as system’ — this is a chip that alone, with nothing else, is a complete functioning electronic system.”

“This should be revolutionary for developing wireless, miniaturized implantable medical devices that can sense different things, be used in clinical applications, and eventually approved for human use,” added Shepard. MORE.

Panic! Newsweek’s Scary Cover: ‘Forget Herd Immunity!’ ‘Deadly New Variants’

Via Newsbusters

Just when you thought it was safe to venture outside again…Newsweek magazine has unleashed a hysteria-inducing cover story for the May 21-28 issue, calculated to inject a little pandemic anxiety back into your summer plans, while garnering reads by fear-porn aficionados.

The not-so-original cover tag, “Winter Is Coming,” appeared over a bleak blue winter scene featuring spiked COVID virus instead of snowballs and fearsome predictions underlined for effect: “No herd immunity.” “Deadly new variants.” “Why scientists predict another COVID surge.” Eek!

Even as the Centers for Disease Control miffs liberals with surprising new guidance that fully vaccinated people can shed their masks, Newsweek is repackaging pandemic fears (lockdowns! travel restrictions!) in a dramatic cover story.

The online headline deck: “Forget Herd Immunity! Winter COVID Surges Will Bring Lockdowns, Travel Bans, Crammed ICUs.” The alarmism by Newsweek’s Fred Guterl was accompanied by plenty of cheap shots against Republicans.

As India descended into a COVID-19 tragedy that dwarfed anything the country had experienced in the pandemic so far, with hospitals inundated, oxygen supplies short and vaccines reportedly being stolen from warehouses, American politicians thousands of miles away were clamoring to end pandemic restrictions.

Representative Jim Jordan railed at Dr. Anthony Fauci in the House chambers, “You don’t think Americans’ liberties have been threatened in the last year, Dr. Fauci? They’ve been assaulted!” Alabama Governor Kay Ivey told Fox News, “We have been at this for more than a year now, and we have simply got to move forward. Endless government mandates are not the answer.”

Many Americans are eager to invite friends for a barbeque, belly up to a crowded bar, attend concerts and eat dinner in popular restaurants. Texas and Florida opened beaches and bars in early May….

Cue the doomsaying:

But the pandemic is not over. In the U.S., the nation is still divided in its willingness to accept vaccines or heed precautions against infection. Vaccination rates have peaked and herd immunity now seems unlikely before next winter, almost guaranteeing that pockets of people will remain vulnerable to the coronavirus in the fall, as the cold weather closes in….

The coronavirus will continue to circulate widely for months, giving it plenty of opportunities to mutate into troublesome new forms that chip away at the effectiveness of vaccines. The prospect that dangerous new variants will trigger fresh outbreaks — with the accompanying lockdowns, travel restrictions and calls for social distancing and mask-wearing — is a dark cloud over hopes of a return to pre-pandemic normal in 2021 and 2022.

Guterl made more bleak predictions. No herd immunity for the US? MORE.

Disabled veteran says four black women brutally attacked her on Mother’s Day: ‘F*** you, you white b****’

Via The Blaze

Police in Louisville are reportedly investigating a potential hate crime after a disabled army veteran was viciously attacked in a parking lot on Mother’s Day.

What happened?

Pamela Ahlstedt-Brown, a disabled Army veteran, told WAVE-TV she was trying to back out of a handicapped parking space at her local Kroger grocery store when she noticed a vehicle parked behind her, preventing her from leaving.

Ahlstedt-Brown said she confronted the passengers inside the vehicle, whom she identified as four young black women in a Dodge car.

“I get out and I say, ‘Do you guys need any help?’ and she said, ‘F*** you, you white b****.’ I said, ‘Hold on, you don’t even know me,'” Brown said. “I said, ‘That’s fine. If you don’t need anything, that’s fine. I’ll get back in the car,'” Ahlstedt-Brown explained.

That’s when Ahlstedt-Brown was attacked, she told WAVE.

“I mean, they were beating me, and I was in a fetal position, covering my face, making sure they didn’t get my eyes,” she explained.

According to WAVE, strangers in the parking lot — not Kroger security guards — stopped the attack.

More from WAVE:

Brown said she went back to the Kroger on Sunday to speak to LMPD officers and tried to retrieve security footage. Tuesday, her daughter called the police multiple times to obtain security footage to no avail.

“They told her, ‘You could have got the video from Kroger the first day.’ And then he followed that up with, ‘Well, a detective has it, so you can’t get it from Kroger.’ So which was is it? His response was to hang up on her,” Brown said.

Ahlstedt-Brown told WAVE she sustained a broken nose during the attack. MORE.

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