J.D. Vance's sloppy take on socialism

The USA vice president recently commented on what he thought socialism was intended to be, and did not give a good response:

“Socialism, classically, was about prioritizing workers. ... Now I think that, in reality, what it truly means in the American context is wanting to replace American workers with foreign workers, and wanting boys to participate in girls’ sports.”

That was the response given by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance during a press gaggle Thursday when asked for his definition of socialism. His remarks have since drawn commentary from the vast community of exiles from socialist regimes who have found refuge in the United States.

The Vice President’s statement was “the worst answer I’ve heard from a conservative in decades,” according to Venezuelan activist Emanuel Rincón. “The truth is that socialists have never cared about workers; they have cared about dominating the means of production or the profits derived from them, about holding total power and harassing citizens, and about extinguishing freedoms — not about doing what J.D. Vance suggests here.”

And this is why there are folks out there who believe Vance will not make a good candidate for POTUS in the next few years. He really blew it, and emerges little better than he did when discussing Israel, in example. And he didn't help matters when he said the other year that if Iranians want to topple the autocracy, "it's up to them". That was very ill-advised too.

While I agree with Rincón, there is some truth to what the vice president said: modern socialism is intrinsically linked to “wokeism” and its ridiculous ideas.

It’s unrealistic to expect a politician to look good or be perfectly on point every time they appear on camera. We are all human beings. Nevertheless, I believe it is important to clarify the concept of socialism — an ideology that has led to the worst horrors known in modern history on every continent where it has been implemented.

Socialism originated as an idea to transform economic and political systems, as well as class relations. Karl Marx, the quintessential intellectual of that ideology, illustrated this in his Critique of the Gotha Program, describing it as a “cooperative society based on common ownership of the means of production.”

Socialists described socialism as the first rung — the phase immediately preceding — in the establishment of a communist society in which the State would cease to exist. Yet, to “socialize” the means of production (in plain terms: stripping ownership from those who held it), it was imperative to employ the coercive force of that very State they claimed would eventually be abolished.

Do you follow the idea? I know it sounds crazy, but believe me: someone like me — who lived under a totalitarian system where these concepts were treated as gospel — can attest that they are not merely foolish, but malevolent. My country, Cuba, went from having an economy that rivaled those of Europe to competing with Haiti for the lowest rank in the hemisphere. My city, Havana — which once boasted more movie theaters than Paris or New York — has now become, as I have said before, a “Pompeii of Salt.”

And Vance isn't well informed on that? Sigh. And let's also consider that Islam follows similar paths in its ideology, and many places that fell to Islam like Iran, have been turned into horror stories even worse. Vance needs to brush up on his knowledge, but for now, he's provided more reasons not to support him as a full presidential candidate if he runs for nomination in 2 years.

Minnesota judicial system allows Muslim school shooter to post bail and exit prison despite severity of crime

Minnesota has another sad case demonstrating the chilling weaknesses turning up in the USA justice system (via Jihad Watch):

The accused gunman in a Minnesota homecoming shooting is out on bond while three more suspects are behind bars and a fourth remains on the run in a case investigators have linked to gangs.

Adam Abdihakeem Adam, 18, was released from the Hennepin County Jail after posting bond Saturday evening, according to jail records reviewed by Fox News Digital.

He is accused of shooting two teenagers outside Eden Prairie High School on Oct. 2, sending fans fleeing and forcing the football game to be evacuated.

Hennepin County court records show three of four additional suspects charged in connection with the fight and shooting are now in custody: Mahamed Ali Haji, 20, of Savage; Abdirahman Ahmed Jama, 18, of Minneapolis; and Omar Adan Abdullahi, 19, of Burnsville.

An arrest warrant remains outstanding for Musab Ibrahim Aden, 18, of St. Paul.

Investigators believe "all participants of the fight and gunshot are believed to be associated with gangs," according to the criminal complaint against the additional suspects.

Letting someone that dangerous out on bond/bail is only spelling more trouble, and simultaneously enabling the criminals to flee into the night. Minnesota looks to be even worse a place to live than California with these jihadists now on the loose.

Ultra-Orthodox lead to Shabbat wars

This article tells about the continuing sad hostility the Haredi clans in Israel have led to, all over Shabbat driving and there's other disturbing things they've done too:

Jerusalem on a Saturday, about an hour before the end of Shabbat. Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews block buses arriving in the capital from northern Israel with metal barriers — a routine move, part of the long-standing status quo. Hours earlier, protests at Cafe Basimta, and far away, in another city — Safed — clashes over operating buses for soldiers and civilians.

The night before, metal barriers were placed at the entrance to a mixed neighborhood in Bnei Brak, where secular and ultra-Orthodox residents live side by side. Within 24 hours, ultra-Orthodox activists tried to change long-standing arrangements in the name of Shabbat, with complete disregard for the wishes of others. And some people have simply had enough.

'Go live in Ramat Aviv for 5,200 shekels'

Friday evening, as Shabbat begins. Bnei Brak police are called by secular residents of the Writers’ Compound neighborhood, also known as Ayelet HaShahar, after construction waste containers are used to block the neighborhood’s main access road. Police arrive and remove the containers from the middle of the road, reopening the bridge. The truck driver who placed the construction waste containers is summoned for questioning. According to a police source, he said he had been hired by someone at the Bnei Brak municipality and believed everything was legal and authorized.

I should hope he's not going to take such jobs again entirely unquestioned. Suppose those containers made it hard for fire trucks to reach a burning building with people in danger there? Do they realize the serious dangers they're risking? And then:

Posters plastered around the neighborhood proclaim a religious ruling stating that “it is strictly forbidden to rent apartments in the neighborhood to people who are not ultra-Orthodox.”

One poster reads: “Everyone has an obligation to protest against anyone who breaches this barrier, because our very lives depend on it. There is no need to fear the prohibition against humiliating others and the like, and in this merit we will ensure that the place develops in Torah, holiness and the presence of the Divine.”

Another poster condemns the “phenomenon of secular tourists” who behave “in a manner inconsistent with our way of life, in immodest clothing.”

“Why are there areas in this country where I am not allowed to live?” another secular resident protested. “The ultra-Orthodox knew they were going to live in a mixed neighborhood, and now they want to take over the public space. It is time for us to fight for our right to live according to our values, and for the ultra-Orthodox to learn to respect their secular neighbors.”

What's disturbing about the first paragraph here is that it reeks of Islamic rulings that it's forbidden to sell homes to Jews. And then, as if things told couldn't get worse:

“Anyone who desecrates Shabbat does not belong to the Jewish people,” shouts one of the people detained by police in Egged Square in Safed, where for 11 consecutive Saturdays a religious conflict has been playing out between ultra-Orthodox and secular residents over buses leaving shortly before the end of Shabbat from the central bus station toward central Israel, without entering the city.

“Anyone who desecrates Shabbat is liable to death by stoning,” he continues. “When the Creator comes and gives punishment to all those who desecrate Shabbat, don’t be surprised afterward when what happened on Simchat Torah happens,” referring to the October 7 massacre.

“Those who desecrate Shabbat betray the Holy One, blessed be He. There is no permission in any form to desecrate Shabbat. Anyone who desecrates Shabbat risks a death sentence from the Creator,” said the Haredi demonstrator.

Read the whole article, but the above makes clear I for one have read enough. That anybody would say a horror as repulsive as October 7, 2023 was "deserved" over petty issues is virtually antisemitic as it's also gender-bigoted and stuff like that. This reeks of leftists in the USA who're now saying America "deserved" September 11, 2001. What next, will the monster who was arrested for acting disorderly go and meet with Hasan Piker? These Haredi clannists are practically acting as agents of leftists in the USA and Europe. And no doubt, they're well aware of what repugnant monsters they're making of themselves too. They do not belong in this country any more than many of the leftists here who've done similar damages.

Order must be restored in France, and the jihadists cannot be allowed to riot during election

A vital case is made for why order needs to be restored in France, and an important warning made about how the jihadists in France could be plotting to commit mass violence if Marine Le Pen's elected:

France’s latest round of rioting, nominally a protest about underfunded schools, is proving to be unusually violent as well as perversely destructive. Burning down or attacking schools is an unorthodox way of improving them. And there are legitimate fears that the disorder, which is being encouraged, at least to some degree, by leftist agitators who have long since left the classroom, may spread further still. There is speculation that this may even be a dress rehearsal for massive disturbances should Marine Le Pen’s populist-right RN win next year’s presidential elections.

Which beggars the query: does Emmanuel Macron intend to allow this to occur when the election takes place? And if the rioters burning down schools, that proves the claim they want better resources is entirely false.

Meanwhile, mass immigration continued, and, as has been made evident yet again by the current rioting, assimilation has proved incomplete, a failure that now stretches across several generations. As a result, the RN (previously the National Front) has long since emerged from the fringe. These riots will do the RN no harm. On the far left, a relative newcomer, the far-left LFI under Jean-Luc Mélenchon, celebrates the “creolization” of France and is appealing to younger voters, immigrants, and their descendants, as well as to Islamists as co-belligerents, a strategy that the left is using elsewhere in Europe. The role played by some in the LFI, tacit or otherwise, in encouraging violence presumably rests on their understanding that for the right audience, violence makes an excellent recruiting sergeant. Moreover, were it to lead to a response by the authorities that could be characterized as an overreaction or that generates a martyr or two, so much the better. [...]

For now, however, the government needs to restore order — and soon — if the rioting is not to spread further. Thereafter, it will doubtless be focused on the budget and trying to avoid next year’s runoff being between Mélenchon and Le Pen, two tricky problems. As to the first, giving the can another kick down the road looks like a good bet. So far as the second is concerned, a recent speech by one presidential hopeful, former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, in which he called for yet more EU integration merely adds to already overwhelming evidence that France and indeed Europe’s radicalized “centrists” remain incapable of addressing the scale of the disaster they have done so much to create.

There's plenty of valid points to be found here. The Trump administration should also speak out about this more too, and confront Macron on what he intends to do in his last days as president to curb the current violence and disorder, which, last time I looked, has also spread to Belgium and even Italy. And any Americans who aren't willing to help out innocent Europeans won't be helping matters.

Sydney Sweeney may really be for real about converting to Judaism

Here's more about actress Sweeney's meetings with rabbis over a possible conversion process:

“The couple is discussing having their own family and Scooter feels strongly on the subject,” a source said.

We previously reported that Braun is planning to pop the question within the next six months.

We also reported that Sweeney was spotted attending Rosh Hashanah services with the mogul at Temple Sholom in Greenwich, Connecticut.

“They sat in the back,” said a spy who saw them at the synagogue, which counts Mayim Bialik and high-profile financiers Mark Shenkman, Steven Tananbaum, Cliff Asness and Andrew Milgram as congregants.

While online site DeuxMoi first reported that Sweeney was considering converting, we are now hearing she is serious about it.

What I hope is that she does so in a way that doesn't demand she just drop her acting career just like that, doesn't require a dress code, and that she simply continue for as long as she thinks she's got potential as an actress. Besides, the film industry is something that cannot be monopolized by leftists, and if Sweeney's reportedly a Republican supporter, we need many more like her to fill it for as long as possible. So I welcome her conversion if she does, but it shouldn't be according to ludicrous terms, plain and simple.

Update: it turns out Sweeney's also got a lineage connection with Marilyn Monroe.

Poll finds 4 in 10 young USA citizens support Islamic sharia

I rarely read the Federalist site now, because of how some writers like editor John Daniel Davidson leave a bad aftertaste, but the following report (via Jihad Watch and Front Page), which is favorable to Israel as well, tells the USA has a very sad case of whole generations who were indoctrinated into being Vladimir Lenin's "useful idiots":

A set of polls released this week by Our Republic and Rasmussen show a concerning trend among American youth, especially in light of recently revealed immigration numbers under Biden: A quarter of 18-35 voters polled would support a community implementing Sharia law as the legal code for the entire town, city, or state if the majority of residents living there desired its adoption.

Additionally, according to the Our Republic poll:

Overall, 21% of likely voters said they have a mostly or somewhat positive opinion of sharia, compared with 57% who have a negative opinion. Positive views were much higher among younger Americans, including 43% of voters ages 18–24 and 39% of those ages 25–29.

The reason American youth may be trending this way, according to Justin Haskins, president of Our Republic, is a lack of understanding about the “value [of] the Constitution and the protections it provides.”

It could also be that they lack appreciation of civilized values, and if it turns out they know more than we think about what Islam is like, they're actually okay with it.

Other findings from the same set of polls clarify the suspicion young people have of Israel, with 46 percent of voters ages 18–24 and 60 percent of those ages 25–29 reporting they would support a proposal “to completely dismantle Israel and replace it with a Palestinian-led nation in exchange for ending the war with Iran and providing the United States with lower oil and gas prices.”

Haskins does not believe that American youth who take these positions are necessarily committed Islamists, nor does he believe they are considering Sharia primarily “as an extension of religious liberty.” Rather, says Haskins, “the more important factor is that Muslims are widely perceived as an oppressed or marginalized group in the United States,” he says. “Within that framework, groups perceived as marginalized are often treated sympathetically without much scrutiny of what those groups or their belief systems actually teach.”

That's another chilling problem - they practically indoctrinated into taking predetermined positions, yet if and when it turns out some leftists get caught committing crimes, those who pretend they're not guilty complain the MSM is just cliche-hunting and never does any research. This is exactly why laws are badly needed to deal with such an issue as sharia. It wouldn't be shocking if the pro-sharia crowd they speak of is already willing to support imposing sharia in cities like Dearborn and Hamtramyck, Michigan. Also, if they're against the war on Iran's autocrats, that too speaks volumes, as does their hostility to Israel, and their potential desensitization/willingness to commit violence, the latter which is particularly offensive.

Now since we're on the subject, the Van Zandt County committee in Texas passed a resolution condemning sharia:

Van Zandt County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution Wednesday denouncing Sharia, making it the first Texas county to pass a resolution specifically addressing use of the Islamic religious code.

Van Zandt County Precinct 2 Commissioner Cliff Williams said he brought the resolution forward because of an 80-acre land purchase in southern Van Zandt County by a family with ties to Muslim youth organizations.

The resolution was inspired by a draft resolution introduced by Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, that denounces Sharia in the United States. Self’s resolution has not been passed by Congress.

While introducing the resolution, Williams explained how Sharia is practiced in various Muslim-majority countries.

“Sharia, as practiced by governments around the world, is more than a private devotion. It operates as a complete political and legal order,” he said. “Where states enforce it, the record speaks for itself. In Iran, women have been beaten in jail for uncovering their hair. In Pakistan, blasphemy laws have sent people to prison and stirred mobs against them on a single person’s accusation.”

Williams also discussed the treatment of women under some interpretations and applications of Sharia, saying a woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man’s, her inheritance is half that of her brothers, and her ability to work, marry or travel can depend on a male guardian.

“It’s not American,” Williams said. “Compare that with what we hold as Americans and Texans. Every person stands equal before the law.”

This is also exactly why even abroad/overseas, we can't just stand idly by while Islam dominates anywhere else. And parents who really care have to start taking serious responsibility for what their children think and end up advocating.

Update: the surveys get worse, as the following from the Buckley Institute reveals there's a considerable number of undergraduate students who believe what Hasan Piker espoused:

Just weeks after the United States commemorated the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorists attacks, a new poll reveals more than one in five undergraduate students believe America deserved the attacks, while nearly half of all undergraduate students think physical violence is justified to stop so-called hate speech.

The Buckley Institute’s 2026 National Undergraduate Student Survey polled 803 American undergraduate students between September 5 and 14.

A shocking 22 percent agreed that America deserved 9/11, including 28 percent of liberal students. Notably, leftist streamer Hasan Piker — who campaigned with Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and cozies up to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — has said America deserved 9/11. Meanwhile, Aber Kawas, a Democratic Socialist of America member and nominee for the New York state Senate, has said that America brought on 9/11 because of capitalism, alleged white supremacy and racism, and alleged Islamophobia.

The poll also found that 45 percent of American college students believe physical violence can be justified to stop hate speech — among which 54 percent of liberals agree compared to 30 percent of conservatives.

“Interestingly, 72% of those who agree that physical violence can be justified to stop hate speech also agree that hate speech is protected by the First Amendment,” The Buckley Institute found.

Shortly after Charlie Kirk was murdered on a Utah college campus for his free speech, a YouGov survey conducted from September 10-12 asked respondent whether they think “it is ever justified for citizens to resort to violence in order to achieve political goals?” Twenty-five percent of respondents who identified as “very liberal” said it can be justified, while 17% of self-identified liberals said the same. Just nine percent of people who identify as either conservative or very conservative said it was justified.

Meanwhile, a recent poll conducted by the Center for Strategic Politics found “Democrats want Trump out by (almost) any means necessary” — including assassination.

Well this is also very chilling, and fully confirms why parents need to stop even sending their children to universities, even if they don't espouse this kind of garbage indoctrination. The influence of violence is a very grave issue that needs serious address everywhere, and Europe too is in sore need of it.

USA military's execution of Nidal Hasan will take place December 3

USA war secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the jihadist who murdered 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009 will be handed down the death sentence on the 3rd of December:

On Thursday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made clear the public will be able to see the December 3, 2026, execution of terrorist Nidal Hasan.

Breitbart News reported that Hasan will be executed at Fort Hood for the mass shooting he carried out at that same military installation on November 5, 2009. Hasan’s attack left 13 dead and numerous others wounded as he shouted, “Allahu Akbar,” while committing the atrocity. [...]

He [Hegseth] told Real America’s Voice, “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it. That it’s public. Because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.”

I do hope I can find sites and channels on which to watch this. It can help send a message that Islamofascists who identify as "palestinians" will also face grave consequences for their repulsive behavior. Hasan deserves all that's coming to him soon.

Update: here's more commentary from Catherine Salgado.

Defeatism in the 1990s

In this article, Dror Eydar talks about the Islamofascist horror engulfing Europe, and brings up something he was told about that occurred in Belgium during the 1990s:

A prominent professor once told me about a conversation he had with a Belgian colleague back in the 1990s. "Look at all the mosques springing up on every corner," he told him. "What will you do when the Muslims actually start taking over Belgium? How will you fight them?"

The Belgian, a devout Catholic, answered candidly: "We won't fight. We'll convert to Islam. They ruled Western Europe once before, so they'll rule it again." While the enemies of the West are prepared to sacrifice their lives to destroy Judeo-Christian civilization, European society is unwilling to pay a price to defend its freedom.

This reminds me of what was said about what the Christian leadership response could be to a movie based on Betty Mahmoody's horrifying experiences in Iran today. Do these people really lack that much confidence they're willing to literally sell out? Additionally terrifying is what the USA public's positions could be on this, recalling how, in a way, the surveys they led to crippled the military's ability to fight the war against Iran on the ground as much as in the air. If the Bush administration, pretentious as it was, was willing to fight Iraq on the ground, and they had no problem with that, why do they suddenly have a problem now, if it could be done the same way and just as effectively? Of course, let's not forget the horrible example Ronald Reagan set when he withdrew the army from Lebanon in 1983, and it's become largely Islamic since.

The incident aboard the flight from Dubai illustrates this principle. Thanks to the sacrifice and quick thinking of Yaniv Hayun, along with the courage of the Indian pilot and other Israeli passengers, many lives were saved and a catastrophe was averted, one that could have emboldened Islamist terrorism.

And if the pilot adheres to Hinduism, it indicates even they have a much more realist view of the need to be vigilant. So perhaps that's why Europeans who need a faith that can give them a reason to live should consider either Judaism or Hinduism? And if it's the former, it needs to be offered without demanding or even expecting the possible convert to follow what the ultra-Orthodox do. That would be a most utterly unsuitable way to handle things.

Trump administration is enabling exile of Christians from Syria

Catherine Salgado points to how Christians are disappearing from the middle east, and one part sticks out in particular for pondering:

Between the Islamic civil war in Syria and the current dictatorship under the genocidal Syrian President Abu Mohammad al-Golani (also known as Ahmed al-Sharaa) and his terrorist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, the Christian population of Syria has almost vanished. Within living memory, Lebanon was Christian; now it is mostly Muslim. In Iran and Iraq, ancient communities of Christians have shrunk almost to nonexistence. In Turkey, where Constantinople was once a glory of the Christian world, the Muslims have stolen Christian heritage and Christian lands. In Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and numerous other countries in the Middle East, Christians have disappeared or are barely hanging on. Gaza’s and Bethlehem’s Christian populations have dropped under Palestinian Authority control. This is the legacy of Islamic takeover. Israel stands out in the Middle East because its Christian population is actually growing. Christians can visit the holiest sites of our religion because of the Israeli government.

So as you see, Salgado doesn't hold back in her description of al-Sharaa, and she's right that the whole notion anything is literally improving for Christians in other parts of the middle east is mistaken. Let's also not forget what it's like in certain parts of Africa like Nigeria, which Trump has addressed, but lately hasn't done so as much, and that could be troubling too. Either way, that he would be willing to recognize an Islamofascist and approve of his becoming an autocrat in Syria is very disturbing, and does serious damage to the efforts to put an end to the Religion of Peace's tyrannical reign anywhere.

It's not enough that Israel be considered a place where Christianity can survive. Even other parts of the middle east and Europe have to count.