News and Happenings Archives - Page 3 of 5

Hostage release button pushers

The reporting on the recent hostage rescue is maddening. Some of the button pushers for me:

CNN reports about hostages “released”. NO! They weren’t RELEASED, they were RESCUED.

A BBC reporter asks an Israeli government representative if the IDF should have given prior warning before the raid. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

All mentioning civilian casualties. These hostages were jailed in RESIDENCES in HIGH DENSITY areas. Noa was in the home of a DOCTOR, where wife, daughter, grandkids were all living. They talk about the doctor “executed” in front of his grandchildren, and that other female adults in the house were “executed” or, at least shot. They weren’t EXECUTED, they were ELIMINATED.

They talk about the high number of Palestinians killed in the operation. There was a fierce firefight as the IDF rescuers tried to leave. Where did all these peaceful people get those weapons? Of course the IDF uses overwhelming force. You cannot say the casualties were innocents. Were there innocents among them. Probably….as per Hamas strategy.

Want a cease fire? It is easy. 1) Release the hostages. 2) Surrender. The fighting will stop immediately…and Israel will become as involved in rebuilding Gaza as allowed, and similar to the way the USA was involved in rebuilding Germany and Japan after we destroyed and defeated them.

Hostage release button pushers Read More »

Riley Gaines podcast with Middle School Athletes

News and Happenings, Respect / John Gardner

Just listened to a podcast interview https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gaines-for-girls-with-riley-gaines/id1696360492?i=1000657133794 with four of the five middle school (M.I.D.D.L.E. S.C.H.O.O.L.) girls who stepped out rather than compete against a boy in their track meet’s shot put. The girls were punished and not allowed to compete at (at least) their next meet. The parents have taken the school board to court (in progress). The girls have subsequently been permitted to compete.

The boy has since been accused of sexual harassment. I’m not even going to quote the accusation of what he was going to do to a girl with his non girl body part. If you want to see, here is a link and article… https://x.com/ReduxxMag/status/1789013744812515708

Girls should not have to compete against boys in sports where sex matters. (Compete in band. That is ok.) They should not have to worry about boys in their restrooms and locker rooms. They should not have to endure what these girls described and to be scared in what should be safe spaces.

Why do middle school girls have to be the adults to try to protect themselves and their sport?

Riley Gaines podcast with Middle School Athletes Read More »

Eden Golan Hurricane and October Rain

News and Happenings / John Gardner

I have never followed Eurovision or Israel singer, Eden Golan. The reason it popped on my radar this year was because Eden Golan’s song, “Hurricane” faced opposition and succeeded while representing herself and her country admirably.

They forced her to change some of the words, and even the title. She renamed “October Rain” to “Hurricane”. Here is her performance at Eurovision. Through all the protests and jeers, when she performed, she captured the world.

They forced her to change some of the words, and even the title. She renamed “October Rain” to “Hurricane”. Here is the first-ever public performance of October Rain… See the comparison of the words below.

She had to deal with protesters (over 20,000 outside her hotel room) jeering and even childish acts from other contestants during a press conference for the finalists. The person next to her has head covered … and at the other end of the table is someone pretending to be bored.

In the press conference, you can see the head covered contestant next to her as she is asked,

Have you ever thought that by being here, you bring risk and danger for other participants and public?

She responded with class and grace.

Not only are there judges at the event, but participating countries can vote. Note that these countries had contestants participating, and they still supported Israel.

Israel had the #2 highest votes from around the world … and ended up 5th place overall.

After a heroine’s reception in her return to Israel, Eden sang the original song, “October Rain” before a huge crowd at Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square.

https://youtu.be/5TEtoEhrAQg?si=bS6JmBDlMo-6bAvs

Eden Golan Hurricane and October Rain Read More »

Would you be worth this for a conversation?

Communication, News and Happenings, Personal experience, Social Media / John Gardner

In 2021, I signed up for a subscription to The Daily Wire, for two reasons:

Gina Carano had been fired from Disney, and hired by Daily Wire. The subscription was a way to support both TDW and Gina.
Candace Owens was hired by The Daily Wire.

Gina did her one movie (delayed into a second year of subscription due to the COVID mess), Terror on the Prairie. It was a good movie, well done, in that it could be filmed away from most population.

Not too long after her debut, Candace Owens hosted a TV show. At the end of every show, she moved her chair to show the nearly all white audience behind her and would answer 3-4 submitted questions that she did not see ahead of time.

At the end of her fourth show, she answered MY submission:

She and her British (love the accent) husband were married on a Trump property in Charlottesville, Virginia. She was a huge supporter, but when she came out staunchly opposed to his vaccine support, asking him about it directly in an interview, there was at least a partial falling out. I am unclear of the current status.

Her audience-included TV show transitioned to a single presenter, sometimes with guests or even a panel. Candace and her husband are both devout Christians, but had very different stances on Protestant vs Catholic theology. In April, 2024, she converted to the Catholic Church. She featured him on a double podcast debate I thought was fascinating. Here is Part 1…

She had amazingly informative deep dives about George Foreman, Big Farma / Vaccines, and Black Lives Matter.

Trouble started brewing when she appeared with her friend, Kanye, and in one of his shows, they wore “White Lives Matter” shirts.

Kanye posted some interpreted antisemitic tweets and Candace defended him. That put her at odds with the owners at The Daily Wire, who are Jewish.

The clashes continued until they recently parted company. She has been posting that, “I am free” and soliciting subscriptions and gifts to support her.

In a Youtube video, in giving the history of her experience, said,

“I am NOT anti-Israel, but I am also NOT anti-Palestianian.”

On 5/10/24, she tweeted about a new app. It said you could talk to her via text or video and get immediate responses. I downloaded the app, only to find out her “rates” are way over my head. She certainly has the right to charge and make money this way, it just takes me out of the communication loop. These pics are from the new app, which I will shortly delete from my phone.

She moved to Nashville to be near The Daily Wire. She and her husband have bought land, built a house, and have welcomed their second child into the world.

She will do well, and as long as I can afford to read or watch, I will.

Would you be worth this for a conversation? Read More »

Who is ethnically cleansing?

Communication, News and Happenings, Social Media / John Gardner

For those who claim Israel is involved in ethnic cleansing …. or worse, consider these in comparison….. Jewish populations in 1948 and 2023. Here we go:

ARAB POPULATION IN ISRAEL
1948 156,000
2023 2,178,000

Jewish Population in Arab Countries – DECREASED 99.83%
Arab Population in Israel – INCREASED 1296.15%

Lebanon
1948 20,000
2023 100

Egypt
1948 75,000
2023 40

Syria
1948 40,000
2023 0

Yemen
1948 55,000
2023 50

Iraq
1948 150,000
2023 7

This is reposted. Looking for the source. Let me know if you have that — or better / more updated stats.

Who is ethnically cleansing? Read More »

Emma Kok and Voila

News and Happenings, Respect, Storytelling / John Gardner

Voila, the performance that got 50M views and kicked off her career at age 15.

Emma Kok, a 16-year-old singer from the Netherlands, has a chronic health condition – gastroparesis (paralyzed stomach), receiving nutrition through a feeding tube making this presentation even more emotionally powerful as she sings about her dream.

The original video got 50Mhits. This one (below) includes the English translation on screen.

btw …. get a box of tissues. Knowing her story and hearing her voice (and seeing audience and orchestra members reactions), well, as one reviewer said, “This broke me.”

Once you watch the video, you will have several options to hear others react. This reaction is from a professional opera singer:

In this video, she talks about being bullied because of her nutrition bag and because of her delayed growth.

She is currently on a World Tour with Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra.

Emma Kok and Voila Read More »

Justice for Vivian

High Schools, News and Happenings / John Gardner

I uncle was a policeman. My father was a fire fighter (Asst Chief)…. I was raised to respect our civil servants and I almost always do. Most of the time, when you watch video of a violent encounter, it starts with non-compliance and more toward the officer(s). But sometimes, officers go to far. That is the case here…..and, in this case, it is not this officer’s first time.

On the ground, arrested for failing to identify, you can see her id just a couple feet beyond where she landed.

Part of her arrest was for failing to provide id. She was trying to pull it from behind her school id on a lanyard. In the pic of her on the ground, yo can see her id just a few feet away.

The first video shows the violent removal. Prior to the release of the video, the town council was supporting the police officer and the prosecutor had set a trial date. Once the public saw it, all charges were dropped and officer was fired. In this report, you hear about this officer’s 10-day suspension where he worked last year because of his temper.

Flawed, but not worthy of dismissal.

Conclusion – officer fired. Statement by Vivian.

Justice for Vivian – all the videos

https://www.justiceforvivian.com/portfolio

Justice for Vivian Read More »

Is this 1938 or 2024?

Communication, News and Happenings, Social Media / John Gardner

Is this 1938 or 2024? Read More »

Genocide is NOT happening in Gaza

Communication, News and Happenings, Social Media / John Gardner

Someone on another platform responded to my “I Stand With Israel” post with, “You stand for genocide”. That is such a gross misunderstanding AND misapplication of the term. By definition,

“Genocides are a deliberate destruction of national, ethnic, racial or religious groups.”

That is NOT what is happening in Gaza.

I spent about 3 minutes looking up some “modern-era” genocides….. There is no comparison…..…

Modern-era Genocides

Rwandan (Hutus killing Tutsis)

April-July 1994 (@4 months)

800,000 killed

Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serbs against Bosnian Muslims)

200,000 Muslims killed

2,000,000 refugees

Cambodia 19779 (after US left Vietnam)

1,700,000 “Purified”

China 1949

CCP party starved 27,000,000

The Holocaust

WWII

“The Final Solution”

Nazis killed @ 6,000,000 Jews

Japan invaded China

1937

Up to 600,000 in Nanking in 4 days

Raped 20,000 women, most of whom were then killed

Ukranian Genocide

1932-33 by Joseph Stalin

7,000,000

Armenian 1915-18

1,500,000 killed by the “Young Turk” government of the Ottoman Empire

Native Americans

56,000,000 over 100yrs (90% tribal populations)

From the river to the sea

Genocide is NOT happening in Gaza Read More »

News and Happenings

Hostage release button pushers

The reporting on the recent hostage rescue is maddening. Some of the button pushers for me:

Like this:

Riley Gaines podcast with Middle School Athletes

Like this:

Eden Golan Hurricane and October Rain

Like this:

Emma Kok and Voila

Like this:

Justice for Vivian

Flawed, but not worthy of dismissal.

Conclusion – officer fired. Statement by Vivian.

Like this:

Modern-era Genocides

News and Happenings

The reporting on the recent hostage rescue is maddening. Some of the button pushers for me:

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Flawed, but not worthy of dismissal.

Conclusion – officer fired. Statement by Vivian.

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Like this:

Modern-era Genocides

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