[guest post by Dana]

Let’s go!

First news item

An apt summation :

As I understand it, the pro-Palestinian crowd wants a cease-fire in Gaza, a cease-fire in Ukraine, and a cease-fire everywhere except in front of the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, where they’ll punch and pepper-spray cops.

So, about last night:

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with Capitol Police officers outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., Wednesday night.

As Democratic politicians and officials attended a campaign reception inside, the protesters began chanting and blocking the entrances and exits to the building, demanding a cease-fire.

Video of the demonstration shows Capitol Police officers struggling to drag protesters, many of whom are wearing “Ceasefire Now” shirts, away from the building. One protester was arrested for punching a cop and six officers were injured in the mayhem.

“Tonight 6 officers were treated for injuries – ranging from minor cuts to being pepper sprayed to being punched. One person has been arrested for assault on an officer. We appreciate our officers who kept these illegal & violent protesters back & protected everyone in the area,” Capitol Police said in a tweet.

Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell, one of the congressmembers trapped inside the DNC headquarters, told the Detroit News after being unable to leave the building because the exits were blocked:

This rattled me more than January 6th (attack) did. I was scared. Someone is going to get hurt at one of these things. They can get out of control.

Also:

“They crossed the line where they were trapping ingress and egress … and trapping people,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) told Axios. “It was disturbing.”

Organizers of the protest blamed the police for reported injuries:

Injuries included being dragged down stairs, hit with police bicycles, pepper sprayed and one individual who is being treated for a concussion…

Law enforcement offered this:

U.S. Capitol Police said officers were keeping back approximately 200 people who were “illegally and violently” protesting outside the DNC building in the area of Canal and Ivy streets in southeast Washington.

“We have handled hundreds of peaceful protests, but last night’s group was not peaceful. The crowd failed to obey our lawful orders to move back from the DNC, where Members of Congress were in the building…When the group moved dumpsters in front of the exits, pepper sprayed our officers and attempted to pick up the bike rack, our teams quickly introduced consequences ― pulling people off the building, pushing them back, and clearing them from the area, so we could safely evacuate the Members and staff.”

Second news item

The White House responds to that Tik Tok video:

There is never a justification for spreading the repugnant, evil, and antisemitic lies that the leader of al Qaeda issued just after committing the worst terrorist attack in American history – highlighting them as his direct motivation for murdering 2,977 innocent Americans.

And no one should ever insult the 2,977 American families still mourning loved ones by associating themselves with the vile words of Osama bin Laden.

Particularly now, at a time of rising antisemitic violence in the world, and just after Hamas terrorists carried out the worst slaughter of the Jewish people since the Holocaust in the name of the same conspiracy theories.

Like President Biden said this year in remembrance of the Americans who lost their lives because of Osama bin Laden, “it’s more important now than ever that we come together” against a “rising tide of hatred and extremism.”

According to the report, Tik Tok is working to take the video down.

Third news item

Not all women and not all rapes are equal:

Prominent human rights campaigners in Israel say the most important women’s organizations within the United Nations have failed to give proper recognition to the massacre and mass rape carried out by Hamas on Oct. 7.

The UN Women statement from Oct. 13, failed to mention any of the atrocities and the U.N.’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) talked amorphically about “the gendered dimensions of conflict” without laying out the brutality inflicted on women during the horrific attack.

Yet again, the U.N. demonstrates that it is a moribund organization that plays favorites.

Despite the telling silence by the U.N., international groups joined Israel to send a letter to the international group, which at one time, spoke out forcefully against female victims of Isis, Syria, Ukrainian victims, demanding that rape crimes against Israeli victims be recognized:

About 160 Israeli and international women’s organizations have so far signed another letter, addressed to UN Women: “The terrorists documented their atrocious actions with their phones, and these films show how the terrorists who attacked the music festival raped women whose bodies are covered in blood,” the letter says. “The films taken by the terrorists who attacked the villages near the border show terrorists ripping the clothes off the women hostages, spitting on them, and sexually abusing them. Some of the women who were physically and sexually abused were kidnapped and are now prisoners of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, with no medical treatment or hygiene. The full scope of the sexual abuse of the hostages is not yet fully known and should be fully investigated according to international law.”

For more on this subject, don’t miss Jake Tapper’s detailed, yet grim, report here.

And this says it all for me:

Let me be as clear as I can: If you deny the rape of Israeli women, if you don’t speak out against the sexual assault of Israeli women bc they are Israeli, you are morally bankrupt, you are no feminist, you are no humanitarian, you are no justice seeker. Youre a monster & a fraud.

Fourth news item

Awkward (VP Harris was in the room when the President swooned over Gov. Newsom):

President Biden fueled speculation Wednesday of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s presidential plans by telling a packed room at the Asian Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) summit that the governor could have any job he wants — even the presidency.

…

“I want to talk about Gov. Newsom. Want to thank him. He’s been one hell of a governor, man. Matter of fact, he could be anything he wants. He could have the job I’m looking for,” Biden said, getting laughter from the room in response.

Newsom and Harris have been described as “frenemies”. It should also be noted that the report states that “54% of Democrats polled say they want another Democrat to challenge Biden in the next election, and 28% of those surveyed said they don’t want a new candidate for their party’s 2024 nomination.”

Also, about that shameful welcome at APEC:

This is beyond embarrassing!!

A national disgrace!!

China would never fly American flags down their streets with our national anthem in the background, so why the hell are we flying CCP flags and listening to China’s national anthem in our country?

Wake up America!! pic.twitter.com/c8wUYKs8wq

— Enes FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) November 15, 2023

Fifth news item

But of course:

A New York appeals court judge Thursday paused gag orders on Donald Trump and his lawyers that had prevented them from commenting on court staff in the civil fraud trial of the former president…

About an hour after the New York gag orders were paused, Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, posted on social media attacking Allison Greenfield, the clerk, calling her a “Democrat Operative.”

Later, shortly before 7 p.m., Trump himself seized on the pause by posting a message on his Truth Social platform in which he called Greenfield “politically biased” and “out of control.”

Sixth news item

Oh:

The House Select Committee on the People’s Republic of China (PRC) announced on Wednesday that the owner of an illegal California biolab allegedly has close ties to the Chinese government.

According to a report shared by the House Select Committee on the PRC, Jia Bei Zhu, 62, is a wanted fugitive from Canada and a PRC citizen.

Authorities said that Zhu had previously stolen millions of dollars of intellectual property from American companies and was part of an ongoing transnational criminal enterprise with ties to the PRC.

As a reminder:

Zhu’s Universal Meditech Inc. lab in Reedley, California first raised eyebrows in December 2022 when Code Enforcement Officer Jesalyn Harper noticed a green garden hose sticking out of a hole at the facility and notified Zhu of the code violation.

Further inspection found that the dingy warehouse contained expensive laboratory equipment, manufacturing devices, and what appeared to be medical-grade freezers…several workers in lab coats who told her that they were PRC nationals… some of the freezers and containment units had glass doors…Inside, she saw thousands of vials of biological substances. Many were unlabeled. Others were labeled in Mandarin or in code.

Read the whole thing.

Seventh news item

UCLA faculty members say enough is enough:

A group of over 300 faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) signed a letter calling on the school to condemn protests “crossing the line from protected speech to unlawful incitement” amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

“We were horrified to see Pro-Palestinian rallies on campus in which the massacres by Hamas were celebrated, including explicit calls for violence (including chanting ‘Intifada’ or event advertisements featuring images of weapons/violence),” the letter reads.

“Such celebrations create an atmosphere of fear; one cannot imagine that UCLA will allow for celebrations of the killing of George Floyd, or for celebrations of the Armenian genocide, or the celebrations of the 9/11 attacks,” the letter continues. “It is inconceivable why such celebrations are not denounced by the UCLA leadership, regardless of political views.”

Eighth news item

After announcing it would close its borders with Russia, hilarity ensued:

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Finland had chosen a path of confrontation and that Russia saw this as a mistake, state media outlet TASS reported.

One can “only express deep regret that the Finnish authorities have taken the path of destroying bilateral relations,” Peskov told reporters…

“Russia has never in modern history threatened Finland, we had no reason for any confrontation. Now they have chosen this path,” he said, adding that this was a “big mistake” in the Kremlin’s view.

Have a good weekend.

–Dana