We are fast approaching Hanukkah (and Christmas) both of which center around light, though for much different reasons, both also have a theme of freedom, though also for far different reasons.

But what is common, is spreading light tends to reveal things that had been hiding in the darkness, in the shadows. It seems like so much has been happening lately to shine the light on cockroaches that have been hiding in many many places. So I thought it might be interesting to shine the light of a few of them myself. After all, even a little bit of light that is shining in a dark room makes a big difference.

While these things are not all related, some are part of a common theme.

To start with, a 560 page report by the Final Report of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Committee on Oversight and Accountability from the House of Representative has been released. It’s a pdf for your reading pleasure. Numbers 6 and 7 are pretty good.

6) The Constitution cannot be suspended in times of crisis and restrictions on freedoms sow

distrust in public health.

7) The prescription cannot be worse than the disease, such as strict and overly broad

lockdowns that led to predictable anguish and avoidable consequences.

Shines a light on our “public health” system doesn’t it? Also explains why “Trust the experts” has become a punch line in a joke, along with “doctors say”.

You wonder if the Biden crime family continues to be vengeful and evil towards those it despises even while pardoning the great connoisseur of art hookers, Hunter? You wonder why with the massive budgets our federal law enforcement agencies can’t find the missing children talked about in hearings? This is why. Grandmother of Five Arrested Last Week and Shackled In Leg Irons For Meandering Around Capitol on January 6th! SPITEFUL BIDEN REGIME IS STILL HELLBENT ON PUNISHING TRUMP SUPPORTERS!

A nearly blind grandmother of five from a small farm in Missouri was arrested by the FBI almost four years after January 6th for alleged “misdemeanors” as the fallen Biden Regime makes a mad dash to punish more Trump supporters before they lose power.

The FBI arrested Suzan McClain on Thursday, December 6, 2024, for misdemeanors committed almost 4 years ago on January 6, 2021. The FBI agent who arrested her is normally assigned to a sexual crimes task force. He is supposed to be pursuing child sex traffickers, but the children being held in captivity will have to wait on the backburner because SuZan McClain trespassed four years ago.

….

She is not accused of committing any specific acts of violence or vandalism. She entered the building, meandered around, and exited peacefully.

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The FBI agent told her that he had been with the FBI for many years, but this was his first-ever misdemeanor arrest. Because she is undergoing treatment on her retinas, SuZan cannot drive long distances by herself, and the federal court is a four-hour drive from her home. So the FBI agent had to drive an hour each way to pick her up and then drive four hours to and from the court. They were in court for over five hours, so the FBI agent spent over 15 hours dealing with SuZan. This is in addition to the many hours he spent building the case against her and the hours he will spend assisting the DOJ in her prosecution.

The whole thing is a travesty, and if nothing else should convince anyone never to vote for anything with a D behind it’s name. The R behind the name needs to be on a case by case basis. Sure shines a light on the two tiered justice system and Merrick Garland and Chris Wray’s priorities doesn’t it?

Hypocrisy on full display, after many years of calling Donald Trump “Hitler” a pair of show hosts from the propaganda wing of the Demoncratic party called MSDNC decided they would go literally meet with Hitler. A man they’ve vilified for years they suddenly decide to go have tea with and sit down and chat. Then they were shocked when all the people (all 12 of their viewers) were outraged they’d have tea with a man they were now convinced is evil incarnate. They may not be the brightest crayons in the box. If nothing else this should shine a light on how they lie, and they know they’re lying.

You think our neighbor to the South is a hot mess? In a move to try to compete Justin Turdeau of Canada said “Eh? Hold my beer” and flew to Mar-A-Lago to explain to DJT that 25% tariffs if he doesn’t shut off the illegal invaders flooding into our country is unbearable. DJT generously offered to make Canada the 51^st state and Turdeau could be the governor. Trump trolls PM Justin Trudeau as the ‘governor’ of the ‘Great State of Canada’ amid tariff talks

Apparently the Turdeau regime felt the need to show his power and flex his girly muscles and show everyone who his daddy (Fidel Castro) is.

Canada Literally Confiscating Citizens Guns, Sending to Ukraine to Kill Russians

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada has fallen into the abyss of tyranny.

Although the Trudeau governments faults are numerous and date back years, a new development — gun confiscation — can be added to the list.

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LeBlanc said, “324 unique makes and models of assault-style firearms” which are now on, “the list of prohibited firearms in Canada.”

“This means these firearms can no longer be legally used, sold, or imported in Canada and can only be transferred or transported under extremely limited circumstances,” he said.

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In a remark that is beyond parody, LeBlanc told Canadians their seized guns would be going to Ukraine.

“As part of that process, the Government of Canada has committed to the Ukrainian government to identify whether some of these guns could be donated to support the fight for democracy in Ukraine.”

This is what happens when you have bureaucrats that are so stupid they believe their own gun control lies. I’m wondering who in Ukraine is going to have the balls to tell the Turdeau clown show that just because they call them “weapons of war” semi-automatics on a battlefield are going to place the ones carrying them at a significant disadvantage. I would maintain with Turdeau heading the government that Canadians should hang on to their weapons as it looks like barring DJT annexing Canada they may have their very own fight for democracy looming. Tyrants never want to face an armed populace and seeing how they behaved during the trucker’s demonstration I don’t think they’re far from that. I guess this shines the light on Turdeau and Canadian decent into dark places.

A humorous side note, look like Politico may have believed DJT was serious about annexing Canada. Shining the light on #FakeNew idiots.

And now a look at one of the most bizarrely developing series of events I’ve seen. Israel was attacked on 7 October 2023. Honestly it seemed like the anti-Israel and Anti-Semitic attacks began within days. I mean as in less than a week. All these little Keffiyot clad, incredibly ignorant little activists began marching around colleges chanting the propaganda lines they’d been fed. Ask them what river and what sea? They haven’t a clue. The cute little boy with the hip hugger pants and crop top holding the “gays for falestine” placard also needs to go over there, he could help the poor falestinians by working in a refugee camp. I’m guessing he could get by with a one way ticket. They slandered Israel and attacked and intimidated Jewish students. Students became afraid to wear symbols of their faith even as keffiyehs marched proudly all over, worn by girls in miniskirts with the black & white draped over the heads. Yep, insert eye roll here. In the Syrian civil war the figure from a March 14^th, 2024 article states the death toll Syria War Death Toll Over 507,000, 13 Years On. The Lebanese civil war (in which the falestinians played a big role in starting) Lebanese Civil War

Throughout the war’s duration, more than 100,000 people were killed, nearly 1,000,000 displaced, and several billion dollars’ worth of damage to property and infrastructure sustained.

How many colleges had little villages set up then to grieve for the poor poor brown people being genocided? Oh, none. The Jews had nothing to do with it, there for it was all “over there”. But why were the poor falestinians in such dire straights? Because this is how they treat the countries that take them in. Were there marches in the streets and takeovers of college buildings after Black September?

Following Jordan’s defeat in the Six-Day War and loss of control over the West Bank, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) began to launch attacks from Jordanian territory. These provoked Israeli counterattacks, threatening the peace King Hussein hoped to achieve with Israel.

PLO head Yasser Arafat ignored Hussein’s warnings and hoped to gain control over Jordan with the support of Egypt and Syria. Fighting between Jordan’s army and the PLO began in November 1969, but Hussein hoped to avoid an escalation.

The Palestinians gradually built up what amounted to a state within the kingdom. They controlled the refugee camps, smuggled in weapons that they openly brandished, ignored officials of the Jordanian government, and undermined Hussein’s authority. The king attempted to negotiate an understanding with the Palestinians, but they were unwilling to compromise and defied his authority.

The final straw for Hussein occurred when Palestinian terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) flew three hijacked planes to Jordan on September 6, 1970, and blew them up on the 12th after releasing the passengers. From that point on, Hussein’s forces increasingly clashed with the Palestinians, who were openly trying to depose him. He declared martial law on September 16 and deployed his troops to Palestinian-controlled areas.

Campus riots after that? What? None?

This is a great 4 minute summation of what happens to the countries that take in the poor poor falestinians.

These college students are so ignorant and uninformed, but they are all in by golly!

Shining the light on the ignorance achieved by “higher indoctrination”.

But there are some that have learned. And that knowledge cost them very dearly and very painfully, and I pray they can be made whole.

Rescued hostage Luis Har: My views have completely changed since I was kidnapped

Har detailed the brutal abduction from his home in Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on October 7, 2023, moments of crisis, the rescue, and his new life after captivity.

“My views have changed drastically since October 6 and until today. I don’t trust any of them [in Gaza]. I know, in some way, they’re all involved. They’re born into hatred. Weapons are put in their hands already as babies. They don’t care about sacrificing their children if it means killing Jews. That’s their way of life,” Har told Webber.

“To achieve dialogue and coexistence, it would take generations of proper education where hatred isn’t taught. That doesn’t exist right now. There’s no one to talk to, even if we wanted to be righteous and good. Before I was abducted, I wanted to live here in peace and coexistence. We don’t hate. We genuinely try to move forward.”

As I’ve said before, the Kibbutzim that were attacked were leftist. Secular, they believed in living at peace with the Gazans and often gave them jobs and took them to Israeli hospitals for treatment. They know better now.

The media is complicit as well. Listening to Douglas MurrayThe first and most important job of a journalist is and should be to tell the truth. Today, that seems to have been forgotten

As the guest of the NGO-Monitor at a recent event, Douglas Murray, a highly respected public intellectual, related his encounters with journalists and the media who promote what he calls “fake news”. The first and most important job of a journalist is and should be to tell the truth. Unfortunately, as Murray explained, many so-called journalists are simply propagandists for left-wing and anti-Israel causes.

Welcome to the informational circus which media and newspapers around the world promote as “the free press,” an essential ingredient of every democracy. He cites, for example, the BBC, the NY Times, the Washington Post, and Haaretz, which portray terrorist organizations, such as Hamas, as “freedom fighters.”

Instead of clowns to amuse you, there are anti-Israel journalists. The goal, however, is the same: to create a different reality. The war against Hamas, they propose, is not about terrorist atrocities, but Palestinian Arabs who are victims of “Israeli genocide and war crimes.” It’s not about Islamic terrorism, but the denial of Palestinian Arab self-determination and statehood. It’s about “Israeli terrorism,” “the occupation,” and “ethnic cleansing.”

As Murray observes, this is a new form of Nazism in which the victims are Palestinian Arabs, not Israelis. Palestinianism has become a new civil rights movement that supports terrorism and seeks to destroy Israel. “Palestinian Arabs are starving,” they claim, while Hamas steals the supplies that are sent into Gaza and murders those who oppose them.

So, about that genocide,

According to the CIA World fact book, the population in Gaza has increased by 2.02% since Oct 7, 2023. Facts vs opinion! There is no genocide in Gaza. No intent or actions by Israel to conduct a genocide. Actually the opposite, Israel has done more to protect civilians and care for civilians in Gaza while Hamas does everything to get civilians killed and to keep the aid Israel floods in from them. Amnesty International and others only weaken the rule of law and make it harder for the laws (redefining it) and courts to hold actual violators to account.

For a country that does most things really quite well, Israel is a spectacular failure in the genocide department. Either that, or they don’t know what the word actually means.

And so we shine the light on media malfeasance. They aren’t even news media, they’re an agenda driven broadcast system for the most part.

There are good things to shine the light on as well. Sadly Luis Har saw the evil for what it was only after it was too late, but there are members of the tribe that see it, and are taking positive steps.

A Jew’s Unexpected Journey Into the Gun Shop

I walked into AJ’s gun shop.

I turned to my wife, Sam, with a weird smile on my face. She looked back at me, like, “What the hell are we doing here?”

We’re New York Jews in a gun shop. What do we know about guns? We know about bagels, about Roth IRAs, about Hamantaschen … but guns?

“What kinda gun are you looking for?” asked Adam, the owner. No clue. “You want something for bears? For deer? Target practice?” We didn’t know how to answer.

“We’re Jewish,” Sam said.

Adam stared at us for a moment, sizing us up, an uneasy tension in the air. Then, spoken with clear confidence, he said, “You’re gonna want a nine-millimeter Beretta and pump-action shotgun.”

I never thought I’d be a gun owner, but I also never thought I’d be woken up by my wife on the morning of October 7th, with her saying: “Israel was attacked. It’s bad.”

Which brings me to my closing thoughts. I was recently so very fortunate to attend a lecture entitled “The Eternal Nation”. All of it was wonderful, from a wonderful Rabbi. But the point I want to hit here is when he talked about ability, capability. As our couple in the last mentioned story did not feel they were able, capable to be gun owners. Guns have nothing to do with Oznei Haman, or Hamantaschen. The Rabbi said we are all believers, we are descendants of believers. He said G-d has given us the means to save ourselves (I don’t think the Rabbi was talking about guns exactly) and that we shouldn’t just believe it will get better, we should do our part to make it better. The lecture was on the rise of antisemitism since October 7^th . He said the question isn’t “What will be?” but rather “What will we do?” Because greater evil always attacks greater good. After October 7^th the IDF had a percentage of their reservists they needed to show up, and many were out of the country. 150% showed up. On their own. These are people that know what they shall do. So we don’t let the terrorists into our minds, We don’t allow our light to recede. We increase our prayer and acts of good deeds. He pointed out it’s not about our abilities, He asked if we thought Avraham, Yitzhak, Yakov, Yosef and Moshe all thought they were capable? He said no, they didn’t. But they were willing. If we are willing, G-d can make us capable.

David ben Gurion said “In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.” And even secular people are beginning to see light. He told the story of a religious soldier in a totally secular unit. His commanding officer was totally secular. But one day the officer came to the religious soldier, very tense and upset. He pulled the religious soldier off duty and told him whatever those prayers you pray, pray them now. Pray all the prayers you’re suppose to pray, pray all the prayers and keep praying them until I come tell you to stop. That’s all you’re to do, pray!! The soldier prayed and prayed for 15 minutes with deep intensity, not even knowing what and why this request was made. Eventually his commanding officer came back. Calm, relaxed and happy, and he told him. There was a group of 3 APCs Armored personnel carriers and they had fallen into a rubble trap set by hamass. They lack the real armor of a tank, and were immobilized, basically, sitting ducks. If they came out of the units they would be picked off. Finally the lead APC figured something out and was able to move and told the others how to do it and so they all 3 escaped. Five men in each carrier, fifteen lives at stake. The secular officer said he couldn’t think of a single thing he could do to save his men. Nothing, he was beside himself. Then he thought of his religious soldier and the soldier prayed, and they were saved. Talk about spreading light! Boy Howdy! We’re like olives, sometimes life events seem to squeeze us till we feel there’s nothing left. But that’s when the olive gives it’s oil. The oil that spread light, and just a little light in a dark room makes a big difference.

There is much light shining on many things and areas right now. Some of the things being illuminated are not pleasant to see, but some we need to see before we get blindsided. So we are willing, and then we can see what G-d will make us capable of. May our lights shine bright and with joy!