Podcasts about shabaab

Today's guest is Anne Speckhard, Director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism. She previously served for over two decades as Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine. She has interviewed over 800 terrorists, their family members and supporters in various parts of the world including in Western Europe, the Balkans, Central Asia, the Former Soviet Union and the Middle East, and has also been training key stakeholders in law enforcement, intelligence, educators, and other countering violent extremism professionals on the use of counter-narrative messaging materials both locally and internationally. In this episode, Alon and Anne discuss the rise in violent extremism and the causes behind it, the prospects of political violence in the US, the role of social media in promoting violent extremism and terrorism, and how violent extremist movements in the Middle East may evolve in relation to current events. Full bio Anne Speckhard, Ph.D., is Director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE) and served for over two decades as Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine and also served as an Affiliate in the Center for Security Studies, Georgetown University. She has interviewed over 800 terrorists, violent extremists, their family members and supporters around the world, including in Western Europe, the Balkans, Central Asia, the Former Soviet Union and the Middle East. Over the past five years, she has conducted in-depth psychological interviews with 275 ISIS defectors, returnees and prisoners, as well as 16 al Shabaab cadres (as well as their family members and leaders,) studying their trajectories into and out of terrorism, and their experiences inside ISIS and al Shabaab. Speckhard developed the ICSVE Breaking the ISIS Brand Counter Narrative Project from these interviews, which includes over 250 short counter narrative videos that mimic ISIS recruitment videos but contain actual terrorists strongly denouncing ISIS as un-Islamic, corrupt and brutal. These videos have been utilized in over 200 Facebook and Instagram campaigns globally. Beginning in 2020, she launched the ICSVE Escape Hate Counter Narrative Project, interviewing 54 white supremacists and members of hate groups, developing counternarratives from their interviews, and creating anti-recruitment videos. She has also conducted rare interviews with five Antifa activists. Dr. Speckhard is also an expert in rehabilitation and repatriation of terrorists and their families. In 2007, she designed the psychological and Islamic aspects of the Detainee Rehabilitation Program in Iraq to be applied to 20,000+ detainees and 800 juveniles. This work led to consulting with foreign governments on issues of terrorist prevention, interventions and repatriation; and the rehabilitation and reintegration of ISIS foreign fighters, wives and children. She has worked individually with former terrorists from Belgium, Australia, Sweden and elsewhere. She has also worked on these issues with NATO, OSCE, UN Women, UNCTED, UNODC, the EU Commission and EU Parliament, and to the US Senate & House, Departments of State, Defense, Justice, Homeland Security, Health & Human Services, and the FBI. Dr. Speckhard actively trains key stakeholders in law enforcement, intelligence, elite hostage negotiation teams, educators, and other professionals in countering violent extremism, locally and internationally. Her focus is on the psychology of terrorism, the effective use of counter-narrative messaging materials produced by ICSVE, as well as studying the use of children as violent actors by groups such as ISIS. Her consultations and trainings include U.S., Australian, Canadian, German, British, Dutch, Austrian, Swiss, Belgian, Danish, Iraqi, Syrian, Jordanian and Thai national police and security officials, among others.

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Bill and Caleb discuss updates from "the Sunni side of the aisle," including Washington's policy pivot on the Haqqani Network, the U.S. military's airstrike strategy in Somalia, the Turkestan Islamic Party's rebranding attempt, the recent death of a key Islamic State leader, and Shabaab's current operations.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, calling it Operation Al Aqsa. For journalist Yardena Schwartz, the massacre was a chilling echo of the 1929 Hebron Massacre—the brutal slaughter of nearly 70 Jews, incited by propaganda that Jews sought to seize the Al Aqsa Mosque. At the time, she was deep into writing her first book, Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict. In this episode, Yardena shares how history repeated itself, how the October 7 attack reshaped her book, and why understanding the past is essential to making sense of the present. ___ Read:  Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab Israeli Conflict Listen – AJC Podcasts: The Forgotten Exodus: Untold stories of Jews who left or were driven from Arab nations and Iran Social media influencer Hen Mazzig on leaving Tunisia Chef Einat Admony on leaving Iran Playwright Oren Safdie on leaving Syria Cartoonist Carol Isaacs on leaving Iraq Novelist Andre Aciman on leaving Egypt People of the Pod:  Latest Episode: Higher Education in Turmoil: Balancing Academic Freedom and the Fight Against Antisemitism Held Hostage in Gaza: A Mother's Fight for Freedom and Justice Yossi Klein Halevi on the Convergence of Politics and Religion at Jerusalem's Temple Mount Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. __ Transcript of Interview with Yardena Schwartz: Manya Brachear Pashman: Hello, and welcome to People of the Pod, brought to you by American Jewish Committee. Each week, we take you beyond the headlines to help you understand what they all mean for America, Israel and the Jewish people. I'm your host Manya Brachear Pashman:. In October 2023 journalist Yardena Schwartz was in the middle of writing her first book exploring the rarely talked about 1929 Hebron massacre, in which nearly 70 Jews were murdered, dozens more injured by their Muslim neighbors during riots incited by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who spread lies that Jews wanted to take over the Al Aqsa Mosque. When she heard reports of the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas dubbed Operation Al Aqsa, she realized just how relevant and prescient her book would be, and began drafting some new chapters. Yardena is with us now to discuss that book titled Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine that ignited the Arab Israeli conflict. Yardena, welcome to People of the Pod.  Yardena Schwartz: Great to be here, Manya. Manya Brachear Pashman: So full disclosure to you and our audience. You attended Columbia Journalism School 10 years after I did, and you took Professor Ari Goldman's class on covering religions 10 years after I did that, class had always traveled to Israel, and I had hoped it would be my ticket to go to Israel for the first time, but the Second Intifada prevented that, and we went to Russia and Ukraine. Instead, your class did go to Israel, and that was your first visit to Hebron, correct?  Yardena Schwartz: So it was in 2011 and we went to Hebron for one day out of our 10 day trip to Israel, and it was my first time there. I was the only Jewish student in our class. It was about 15 of us, and I was the only one who had been to Israel. I had been all over Israel, but I had never been to Chevron. And our tour was with Breaking the Silence, an organization of former Israeli soldiers who had served in Hebron or in other parts of the West Bank and wanted Israelis to know what was happening in Hebron and how Palestinians were living there, and the various restrictions that were put in place as a result of terrorist attacks. But nevertheless, you know, those restrictions were extremely disturbing, and that brief visit in 2011 made me really never want to go back to Hebron. And when I moved to Israel two years later to become a freelance journalist there, and, you know, to move to Israel because I loved Israel, and still obviously love Israel, I didn't really go back to Chevron because I, you know, was really troubled by what I saw there. But this book took me, of course, back to Chevron hundreds of times, spending hundreds of hours there. And it came to be, you know, my expertise in this conflict, in my reporting. And you know, of course, Heron is kind of the main character in this book, Manya Brachear Pashman: Tell us how you came to find out about this massacre. Was it mentioned during that class visit in 2011 or was it later that you learned about it? Yardena Schwartz: So that was one of the most interesting things about my early adventure into writing this book, was that I had of course been to have Ron, and yet, during that day that we spent there learning so much about the history of this place, this deeply holy place to so many people, there was no mention of the massacre of 1929, so, you know, I knew that Chevron is, you know, the second holiest city in Judaism, the burial place of Abraham And the matrix and patriarchs of the Jewish people. And you know the first place where King David established his kingdom before Jerusalem. So it was holy before Jerusalem. And yet I had no idea that this ancient Jewish community in Hebron had been decimated in 1929 in one of the worst pogroms ever perpetrated. We all know about the kishineff pogrom of 1904 and yet the pogrom in 1929 in Hebron, perpetrated by the Muslim residents of Hebron, against their Jewish neighbors, was more deadly and more gruesome than the kishineff pogrom, and it effectively ended 1000s of years of Jewish presence in this holy city. And so when I was told by my mentor, Yossi Klein Halevi, the amazing writer, that there was a family in Memphis, Tennessee that had discovered a box of letters in their attic written by a young American man from. Memphis, who had traveled to Chevron in 1928 to study at the Hebron yeshiva, which was at the time, the most prestigious yeshiva in the land of Israel in what was then, of course, British Mandate Palestine. And that this young man had been killed in that massacre. Yet his letters, you know, painted this vivid portrait of what Chevron was before the massacre that took his life. I was immediately fascinated. And I, you know, wanted to meet this family, read these letters and see how I could bring the story to life. And I was introduced to them by, yes, in 2019 so that's when I began working on my book. And you know, as you mentioned, I was still writing the book in 2023 on October 7, and this book I had been writing about this massacre nearly a century ago immediately became more relevant than I ever hoped it would be.  Manya Brachear Pashman: The young American man from Memphis. His name was David Schoenberg. Give our listeners a history lesson. Tell us about this 1929 massacre. So Yardena Schwartz: On August 24 1929 also a Shabbat morning in crevorone, every Jewish family had locked their doors and windows. They were cowering in fear as 1000s of Muslim men rioted outside their homes, throwing rocks at their windows, breaking down their doors and essentially hunting down Jews, much like they did on October 7, families were slaughtered. Women and teenage girls were raped by their neighbors in front of their family members. Infants were murdered in their mother's arms. Children watched as their parents were butchered by their neighbors, rabbis, yeshiva students were castrated and Arabic speaking Jews, you know, Sephardi, Mizrahi, Jews, who composed about half of the Jewish population in Hebron at the time, and were very friendly with their Arab neighbors. You know, they went to each other's weddings and holidays, went to each other's shops, and these people were also slaughtered. It wasn't just the yeshiva students who had come from Europe or from America to study there, or, you know, the Ashkenazi Jewish families. It was, you know, Arabic speaking Jews whose families had been there for generations and had lived side by side in peace with their Muslim neighbors for centuries. They too were slaughtered. Manya Brachear Pashman: Why did their Muslim neighbors turn on them so suddenly and violently? The Yardena Schwartz: rioters that day were shouting Allahu Akbar. They claimed to be defending Islam and Al Aqsa from this supposed Jewish plot to destroy Al Aqsa in order to rebuild the Third Temple. This is what they had been told by their leaders and by Imams and their mosques and in Hebron, that Lai had also extended to the tomb of the patriarchs and matriarchs, which is known in Arabic as the Ibrahimi mosque. Imams there had told Muslims in Hebron that the Jews of Hebron were planning to conquer Ibrahimi mosque in order to turn it into a synagogue. So this incitement and this disinformation that continues to drive the conflict today. Really began in 1929 the rumors about this supposed Jewish plot to destroy Al Aqsa that began in 1928 around the same time that David Schoenberg arrived in Palestine to study at the yeshiva. Manya Brachear Pashman: So in addition to the letters that David Schoenberg wrote to his family back in Tennessee. How else did you piece together this history? How did you go about reporting and researching it? Who kept records?  Yardena Schwartz: So it's really interesting, because I was so surprised by the lack of literature on this really dramatic moment in history, in the history of Israel, the history of this conflict. And yet, despite the fact there are really no books in English, at least, about the massacre and about these riots and what led to them, there were mountains of, you know, testimony from victims and survivors. The British carried out this commission after the riots that produced this 400 page report filled with testimony of British officials, Arab officials, Jewish officials, survivors. So there was just so much material to work with. Also, survivors ended up writing books about their experiences in Hebron, very similar to David's letters, in a way, because they wrote not only about the riots and the massacre itself, but also what they experienced in Hebron before they too, wrote about, you know, the relatively peaceful relations between the city's Jewish minority and the Arab majority. And I also relied on archival newspaper reports so the. Riots really occupied the front pages of American newspapers for about a week, because it took about a week for the British to quell the riots, and they did so with an air, land and sea campaign. They sent warships and war planes from across the British Empire and sent troops from other parts of the British Empire. Because one of the reasons the riots were so effective, in a way, you know, were so deadly, especially in kharag, was because there was just no military force in Palestine. At the time, the British did not have a Palestine military force, and it was only after the 1929 riots that they did have troops in Palestine. Until then, they had the Palestine police force, and that police force was mostly Arabs. In Hebron, for example, there were about 40 policemen under the stewardship of one British police chief, and all but one of those policemen were Arabs, and many of them participated in the massacre or stood by outside of Jewish homes and allowed the mobs to enter the homes and carry out their slaughter. And Manya Brachear Pashman: I'm curious. There was a lot of newspaper coverage, but what about the international community's response beyond the British Empire? Yardena Schwartz: So there were actually protests around the world against the massacre in New York. 35,000 people marched through the streets of Manhattan to protest the British failure to protect their Jewish subjects from these riots. Most of the marchers were Jewish, but nevertheless, I mean 35,000 people. We didn't see anything like that after October 7. Of course, we saw the opposite people marching through the streets of New York and cities around the world supporting the mass of October 7. You know, I mentioned this March in New York, but similar protests were held around the world, mostly in Jewish communities. So in Poland, Warsaw and in England, there were protests against the British failure to protect Jews in Palestine from these riots. And the American government was livid with the British and they sent statements put out, statements to the press, criticizing the British inaction, the British failure to protect the Jewish subjects and the American citizens who were in Palestine at the time, there were eight Americans killed in Hebron on August 24 1929. Out of the 67 Jewish men, women and children who were killed, and all of them were unarmed. The Haganah at the time, you know, the underground Jewish Defense Force that would later become the nucleus of the IDF, the Haganah was active then, mostly in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, there were no Haganah members in Hebron. The Hebron Jewish community was very traditional, very religious, and when Haganah came to Hebron two days before the riots erupted, they because they knew that these riots were going to happen. There had been calls from Arab officials to riot, to attack Jewish communities across Palestine. And so the Haganah came to Hebron to warn Jewish leaders of Hebron that they could either come there to protect them or evacuate them to Jerusalem to safety until the riots subsided and the Jewish leaders of Hebron were unanimous in their opposition. They said, No, you know, we're friends with our Arab neighbors. They'll never hurt us. We trust them. If anything happens elsewhere, it won't happen here. And they believed that because, not only because they had such a good relationship with their Arab neighbors and friends, but also because in previous outbursts of violence in other years, like in 1920 1921 when they were much smaller riots and much less deadly riots. When those riots reached other parts of Palestine, they didn't reach Hebron because of those relations and because they weren't fueled by incitement and disinformation, which was what led the riots of 1929 to be so massive and so deadly, and what led them to be embraced by previously peaceful neighbors. Manya Brachear Pashman: How did that disinformation travel in 1929 How did it reach those neighbors in Hebron? Yardena Schwartz: When we talk about disinformation and misinformation today, we think of it as this, you know, modern plague of, you know, the social media era, or, you know our fractured media landscape. But back in 1929 disinformation was rampant, and it also traveled through Arabic newspapers. They were publishing these statements by Arab officials, mostly the Grand Mufti Hajime Husseini, who was the leader of Palestinian Muslims under British rule, he began this rumor that the Jews of Palestine were plotting to conquer Al Aqsa mosque to rebuild their ancient temple. Of course, Al Aqsa is built upon the ruins of the ancient temples. Temple Mount is the holiest place for Jews in the world. And in 1929, Jews were forbidden from accessing the Temple Mount because it was considered, you know, a solely holy Muslim site. But the closest place they could pray was the Western Wall, the Kotel. And Jews who were demanding British protection to pray in peace at the Western Wall without being attacked by Muslims as a result of this disinformation campaign were then painted by the Arabic press as working to conquer the Western Wall, turn it into a synagogue, and then from there, take Al Aqsa Mosque.  So this disinformation traveled from the very highest of Muslim officials. So the imams in mosques across Palestine, specifically in Al Aqsa and in Hebron, were repeating these rumors, these lies about this supposed Jewish plot. Those lies were then being published in flyers that were put in city squares. Jewish officials were warning the British and telling, you know, they should have known and they should have done more to end this campaign of disinformation, not only to achieve peace in this land that they were ruling over, but also because they were responsible for installing hajamina Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, into his position they had chosen him for that position, that all powerful position. And so they were responsible, in a way, for all of these lies that he was spreading. And yet they took no responsibility.  And even in the commission that they sent to Palestine from London to investigate the causes of the riots, despite the fact that, you know, if you read these, you know, 400 pages, I don't recommend it. It's a tough reading. But, you know, I did that for this book. And it's so clear from all of these hearings that this disinformation campaign was very obvious, very clear and very clearly to blame for the riots. And yet, because saying so would have made the British responsible for so much death, their conclusions in this commission was that it was Jewish immigration to Palestine and Jewish land purchases at the time that had sparked the riots, and that it was this Jewish demonstration, peaceful demonstration at the Western Wall on to Shabaab in August of 1929 that had sparked these riots.  So there's just, you know, this absolute lack of accountability, not only for the Mufti, who retained his position and became even more powerful and more popular as a leader after these riots, but also for the British and instead, you know, the Jewish victims were blamed for their suffering. At the time, Jews were just 20% of the Palestinian population, which was just 1 million people. Of course, today, Israel is home to more than 10 million people. So you know, clearly there was room for everyone. And the Jews at the time were very peaceful. The Haganah was a very, you know, weak, decentralized force, and after these riots, it became much stronger, and Sephardi Jews and Mizrahi Jews, more traditional Jews who had not joined the Haganah before 1929 had not really embraced Zionism before 1929 now agreed that if Jews were going to be safe in our homeland, then we would need our own army. Manya Brachear Pashman: Can we talk a little bit about the turn toward radicalization and extremism during this time, and what role that has played in the years since? Yardena Schwartz: you know, the Zionist leadership was very adamant that Jews in Palestine should not be carrying out attacks against Arabs in Palestine. You know, it should be really about defending Jews, preventing attacks, but not carrying out retaliatory attacks. But as we've seen throughout the century, of this conflict. You know, extremism begets extremism. And you know, when violence is being used by one side, it is going to be used by the other side as well. And so the rise of a more militant form of Zionism was a direct result of 1929 and this feeling of just helplessness and this feeling of relying on this foreign power, the British, to protect them, and realizing that no foreign power was going to protect the Jews of Palestine and that Jews would have to protect themselves, and the radicalism and the extremism within the Muslim population, particularly the Muslim leadership of Palestine, really just accelerated after the massacre, because they saw that it succeeded. I mean, the British punished the Jewish population of Palestine for the riots by vastly limiting Jewish immigration, vastly limiting Jewish land purchases. Notice, I use the word land purchases because, contrary to a lot of the disinformation we hear. Much today, none of this land was being stolen. It was being purchased by Jews from Muslim land owners. Many of them were absentee landowners. Many of them were from the wealthiest families in Palestine. And many of them were members of, you know, this anti Zionist, pro Mufti circle, who were then telling their own people that Jews are stealing your land and evicting you from your land, when, in fact, it was these wealthy Arab landowners who were selling their land to Jews at exorbitant prices. Manya Brachear Pashman: Did you establish a motive for the Mufti and what were his intentions spreading this disinformation? Yardena Schwartz: Great question. So it was very clear. I mean, he never admitted this, but it was very clear what his motives were, and that was to counter the criticism and accusations of corruption that had dogged him for years, until he began this campaign of propaganda which led much of that criticism and much of those stories of his corruption within the Arabic press and among his Arab rivals to essentially disappear, because now they had a much more threatening enemy, and that enemy was the Jewish community of Palestine, who was plotting to destroy Al Aqsa, conquer Al Aqsa, rebuild their temple, take over Palestine and his campaign worked. You know, after that propaganda campaign became so successful, there were very few people willing to stand up to him and to criticize him, because after 1929 when he became so much more powerful, he began a campaign of assassinations and intimidation and violence used against not only his political rivals and dissidents, but also just Anyone who favored cooperation between Arabs and Jews in Palestine. So there were various mayors of Arab cities who wanted to work together with the Jewish community of those cities or with other Jewish leaders to bring about various economic initiatives, for instance. And some of those mayors were assassinated by the muftis henchmen, or they were just intimidated into silence and into kind of embracing his platform, which was that Palestine is and has always been and should always be, a purely Muslim land, and that there is no place for any kind of Jewish sovereignty or Jewish power in that land.  So, you know, the Mufti, in 1936 he ended up leading a violent rebellion against the British. And the British at that point, had gotten tired of ruling Palestine. They realized it was much more work than they were interested in doing, and they were interested in leaving Palestine, handing over governance to the local population to the Jews and Arabs of Palestine, and they had been interested in figuring out what could be done. Could there be a binational state with equal representation, or representative governance? If Jews are 40% of the population and Arabs are 60% then there could be some kind of governance on those ratios, all of those solutions, including a two state solution, which was presented in 1937 all of those solutions were rejected by the grand mufti, and his platform was embraced by the other Arab officials within Palestine, because if it wasn't, they could face death or violence. And he even rejected the idea of Jews remaining in Palestine under Arab rule. You know when the British said to him, okay, so what will be done with the 400,000 Jews who are in Palestine right now? He said they can't stay. So he didn't only reject the two state solution. He rejected, you know, this bi national, equal utopian society that we hear proposed by so many in pro Palestine movement today. You know, all of these solutions have been on the table for a century and always. They have been rejected by Palestinian leaders, whether it was the Grand Mufti or his apprentice, his young cousin, yas Arafat. Manya Brachear Pashman: Ah, okay, so what happened to Grand Mufti Husseini? Did he stick around? So The Mufti was eventually, finally wanted for arrest by the British after his rebellion claimed the life of a British official. Until then, it had only claimed the lives of Jews and Arabs, but once a British official was killed, then the British had decided that they'd had enough of the Mufti, and they ordered his arrest. He fled Palestine. He ended up in Iraq, where he was involved in riots there the far hood in which many Jews were massacred, perhaps hundreds, if not over 1000 Jews were slaughtered in Baghdad, which was at the time home to about. 100,000 Jews. He then fled Iraq and ended up in Berlin, where he lived from 1941 to 1945 in a Nazi financed mansion, and he led the Arab branch of Joseph Goebbels Ministry of Propaganda. He was the Nazi's leading voice in the Arab world, he spread Nazi propaganda throughout the Muslim world and recruited 10s of 1000s of Muslims to fight for the Nazis, including in the Waffen SS and when the war ended, when world war two ended, and the UN wanted him for Nazi war crimes, he was wanted for Nazi war crimes, placed on the UN's list of Nazi war criminals. Once again, he fled, first to France, then to Cairo, eventually settling in Beirut, where he continued to lead his people's jihad against the Jews of Palestine. So when, in 1947, when the UN voted to partition British Mandate Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state so that the British could finally leave Palestine. He declared jihad, and he rejected the Partition Plan, along with every other Arab state which also rejected it. Of course, the Jews of Palestine embraced it, celebrated it, and the very next day after the UN vote, riots erupted throughout Palestine, and he helped. He was kind of pulling the strings of that Jihad taking place in Palestine. And in fact, 1000 Muslim men who he had recruited for the Waffen. SS joined that holy war in Palestine. The Mufti helped create the army of the holy war. Yasser Arafat, who was also in Beirut at the time, also assisted the army of the holy war. He actually fought in the war that began in 1947 alongside the Muslim Brotherhood. So, you know the legacy that the Mufti had? You know, it doesn't end there. It continued to his dying day in 1974 and Arafat took over his mantle as the leader of the Palestinian people. And you know, we see how the disinformation and incitement and rejection of Jewish sovereignty in any part of the ancient land of Israel has continued to be a prominent force in Palestinian politics no matter who was in charge. You know, the Fatah, Mahmoud, Abbas and Hamas, of course, perpetuate the same lies about Al Aqsa. They perpetuate the same denial of a Jewish right to live in peace in our homeland, deny the history of Jewish presence in Israel. So, you know, it's really astounding to me how little is known about the Grand Mufti and how little is known about his impact on this conflict, and particularly in the very beginnings, the ground zero of this conflict in 1929 Manya Brachear Pashman: It's so interesting. We talk so much about Hitler, right? And his antisemitism, but we don't talk about Husseini. Yardena Schwartz: Yeah, and they were good friends. I mean, they met in 1941 shortly after the Mufti arrived, he had a private chauffeur. He was lavishly paid by the Nazis, and he was good friends with Himmler. He toured concentration camps. He knew very well about the final solution. Hitler himself considered the Mufti an honorary Aryan. I mean, the Mufti had blue eyes, fair skin, light hair. Hitler believed that Husseini had Roman blood, and he saw him as someone who could lead the Nazi forces once they arrived in the Middle East. He saw him as, you know, a great ally of the Nazis. He didn't just participate in the Nazis quest to eradicate the Jewish population of Europe and eventually arrive in Palestine, but he also the Mufti worked to convince various European leaders not to allow Jewish refugees from fleeing Europe and not allowing them to come to Palestine. He told them, send them to Poland, and he knew very well what was happening in Poland. Manya Brachear Pashman: So I want to go back to this family in Tennessee, the genesis of this story, and I'm curious. David Schoenberg's niece said that at one point in the book, she said they're Southern, so they sweep ugly under the rug in the south. And so they just didn't talk about that. And when I read that, I thought, actually, that's kind of a Jewish approach, not a southern approach, except we wouldn't say we sweep things under the rug. We move on, right? We treasure our resilience, and we move on from that pain and we build anew. But is moving on really in the Jewish community's best interest? Is that how we end up forgetting and letting this history and this very important history fade?. Yardena Schwartz: Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think it is possible to do both. It is possible to take great pride in our resilience and in our strength and our ability to experience so much devastation and suffering, and yet every time emerge stronger.  I mean, think about the Holocaust. First of all, for many years, we did sweep that under the rug. Survivors were discouraged from speaking about what they went through. They were seen as, you know, especially in Israel, they were seen as, you know, people who went like sheep to the slaughter. It wasn't something to talk about. It was something to move on from. And yet now we are able to hold both in both hands. You know. We're able to honor and commemorate the memory and speak about the atrocities that millions of Jews suffered during the Holocaust, while also celebrating where we went after the Holocaust. I mean, three years after the Holocaust, Israel was born. You know, that's just, on its own, you know, a remarkable symbol of our resilience and our strength as a people. But I think the way we commemorate the Holocaust is a really great example of how we do both how we honor the memory and use that as a lesson so that it never happens again.  And yet, I think that when it comes to the conflict and the various forces that have led us to where we are today, there is this tendency to kind of try to move on and not really speak about how we got here. And it's really a shame, because I think that this is the only way we'll ever find a way out of this tragic cycle of violence, is if we learn how we got here, the forces that continue to drive this conflict after a century, and you know, the people who brought us here. Not only the Grand Mufti, but also, you know, the leaders today who are very much capitalizing on fear and religion, exploiting religion for their own, their own interests, and utilizing disinformation to remain in power. And I think that, you know, we can't afford not to speak about these things and not to know about our own history. It's really telling that, you know, even in Jewish communities, where people know so much about Israel and about this conflict, there is just a complete lack of knowledge of, you know, the very bedrock of this conflict. And I think without that knowledge, we'll never get out of this mess. Manya Brachear Pashman: Yardena, thank you so much. This is such a wonderful book, and congratulations on writing it.  Yardena Schwartz: Thank you so much.  Manya Brachear Pashman: If you missed last week's episode, be sure to tune in for my conversation with Dr Laura Shaw Frank, Director of AJC Center for Education Advocacy. We discussed the delicate balance between combating antisemitism, safeguarding free speech, and ensuring campuses remain safe for all students.  Thank you for listening. This episode is brought to you by AJC. Our producer is Atara Lakritz. Our sound engineer is TK Broderick. You can subscribe to People of the Pod on Apple podcasts, Spotify or Google podcasts, or learn more at ajc.org/PeopleofthePod. The views and opinions of our guests don't necessarily reflect the positions of AJC. We'd love to hear your views and opinions or your questions. You can reach us at PeopleofthePod@ajc.org. If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to tell your friends. Tag us on social media with hashtag People of the Pod and hop on to Apple podcasts to rate us and write a review to help more listeners find us. Tune in next week for another episode of People of the Pod.

PREVIEW: Colleague Caleb Weiss of FDD reports on the origin and type of drones used in Somalia by al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab and breakaway jihadist ISIS. More later.

1/2: SOMALIA: SHABAAB ADVANCES. CALEB WEISS, BILL ROGGIO, FDD 1932 MOGADISHU

2/2: SOMALIA: SHABAAB ADVANCES. CALEB WEISS, BILL ROGGIO, FDD 1770 

On Daybreak Africa: More than 40 members of the Islamist al Shabaab armed group were eliminated in an operation by the Somali National Army and international partners. Plus, European leaders meet with Ukraine's president to discuss the war with Russia. President Trump plans to address a joint session of Congress Tuesday evening. We'll hear the views of some Kenyans on what they say President Trump and U.S law makers should know about Africa. UNICEF says worsening insecurity in DRC rebel-controlled cities is making it difficult to feed and care for thousands of children and women. Kenya's rebranded People's Liberation Party says it wants to “liberate” the country come the 2027 presidential election. we'll look at the impact of the work of returned Peace Corps Volunteers. For these and more, tune in to Daybreak Africa!

L'ambasciata siriana in Libano sospende i servizi e l'ONU autorizza una nuova missione contro al-Shabaab in Somalia

*) Erdogan blasts Israel for extending its 'genocidal policy' to Lebanon Turkish President Erdogan slammed Israel's military actions in Lebanon, accusing it of extending "genocidal, occupation, and invasion policies." Erdogan condemned the killing of Lebanese civilians, including children, and said Israel is emboldened by international support, challenging humanitarian values and international law. "No one with a conscience can justify this massacre," Erdogan wrote on X. *) Türkiye criticises US decision to lift arms embargo on Greek Cypriot Türkiye's Foreign Ministry warned that the US decision to extend the arms embargo lift on the Greek Cypriot side will spark an arms race on the island and destabilise the region. The island is divided between the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Greek Cypriot administration in the south. The US imposed the arms embargo on Cyprus in 1987 to prevent escalation. It lifted the embargo on the Greek Cypriot side in 2020, expanded it in 2022, and extended it again in 2023. *) Deadly bomb blasts hit Somalia's Mogadishu At least six people were killed and 10 injured in bomb blasts in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, and the Middle Shabelle region. One blast came from a car rigged with explosives near the National Theatre, close to the president's office, killing five and injuring seven. While no group has claimed responsibility, al Shabaab frequently carries out such attacks. *) Flooding, landslides kill scores in Nepal's capital Floods and landslides in Nepal, triggered by heavy rains, have killed at least 59 people, with 44 still missing, police said. Over 200 incidents were reported, and the toll is expected to rise. Rivers near Kathmandu have overflowed, flooding nearby homes. *) Thousands in Japan bid farewell to pandas returning to China Thousands of emotional fans flocked to a Tokyo zoo to say goodbye to beloved pandas Ri Ri and Shin Shin before their return to China. Wearing panda-themed gear, visitors shed tears and took selfies as they waved at the couple. Over 2,000 fans lined up outside Ueno Zoo, with some camping out overnight.

About the Lecture: Since the time of Chairman Mao, the Chinese Communist Party has recognized Africa's importance. Especially under President Xi Jinping, the continent has become crucial to some of the CCP's most cherished ambitions. In his presentation, Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Joshua Meservey will explain how Africa fits into the CCP's strategy to reorder the international system, gain for China an unassailable lead on the technologies it believes will dominate the future global economy, and refine its domestic systems of control. About the Speaker: Joshua Meservey is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute where he focuses on great power competition in Africa, African geopolitics, and counterterrorism. He was previously a research fellow for Africa at the Heritage Foundation. Before joining Heritage, he worked at the Atlantic Council's Africa Center and at the US Army Special Operations Command where he helped write an Army concept paper. He also worked at Church World Service (CWS) based out of Nairobi, Kenya, and traveled extensively in East and Southern Africa interviewing refugees. He ended his time at CWS responsible for a multinational team of nearly 100 staff. He is a returned Peace Corps volunteer who served in Zambia and extended his service there to work for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has testified twice before the Senate, five times before the House of Representatives, and once before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He is lead author of a monograph on al-Shabaab's insurgency and contributed a chapter to the book War and Peace in Somalia, published by Oxford University Press. He has written for a wide range of publications including Foreign Affairs, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the National Interest, The Hill, and various journals. His commentary is often featured in various print and digital media outlets, and he has presented at the National Defense University and the State Department. Mr. Meservey holds a master of arts in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a BA in history from the Templeton Honors College at Eastern University. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and children.

GOOD EVENNG: The show begins tonight at the NATO gathering in Washington -- where the leaders will debate the fate of Ukraine and Europe. FIRST HOUR #StateThinking: Mary Kissel on NATO going global and Robert O'Brien's work on nuclear forces #LondonCalling: Joseph Sternberg on denying the far-right at the EU and the rise of Nigel Farage SECOND HOUR #Markets: Liz Peek on the Fed's response to market trends and the Biden administration's missteps #BOEING #ISS: Bob Zimmerman on the connection between Boeing's failures and the delayed Starliner #ESA: Bob Zimmerman on the Ariane-6 launch THIRD HOUR #UK: Gregory Copley on Labour's command for at least 5 years and the future of the UK-US special relationship #TURKEY: Gregory Copley on Turkey's odd position in NATO and Asia Minor #KingCharles: Gregory Copley on the Order of the Thistle FOURTH HOUR #AFRICA: Caleb Weiss and Bill Roggio on Shabaab attacks and the Wagner Group in West Africa #SCOTUS: Eugene Volokh on whether AI language models like Claude enjoy First Amendment protections #NUKES: Henry Sokolski on whether new nuclear weapons should be designed with computer modeling or testing 1885 Grover Cleveland Memorial

#AFRICA: Shabaab attacks: Caleb Weiss, Bridgeway Foundation, FDD.  Bill Roggio, FDD.  @LongWarJournal https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2024/07/jihadi-archives-islamic-states-eulogy-of-sudanese-jihadist-mohamad-makkawi-ibrahim.php 1770

Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.Somalia asks peacekeepers to slow withdrawal, fears Islamist resurgenceSummary: Somalia's government has asked the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia, which is a peacekeeping force of about 4,000 troops, to slow their withdrawal from the country, which is currently expected to be completed on December 31 of this year; around half that force is scheduled to be withdrawn by June, and the government is asking them to wait until September.Context: The ATMIS is an African Union force, is largely funded by the EU and US, and is in Somalia to help the government fend-off extremist militants in the region, especially those aligned with al Shabaab; the government is concerned their own forces won't be ready to fill in the gaps left by the ATMIS when they pull out, basically, and that could leave a power vacuum al Shabaab or another group could rush to fill; the head of the ATMIS has said there's no definitive timeline for concluding negotiations regarding the withdrawal, and that everyone involved has committed to achieving sustainable peace and security in the area.—ReutersOne Sentence News is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Greece introduces the six-day work weekSummary: A new law that comes into effect in Greece on July 1 will allow business owners in some sectors to assign their employees hours up to six days a week, if they deem it necessary, adding a 40% supplement to the employee's daily wage if they are called in for a sixth day of labor.Context: This is a contentious piece of legislation, as while it could help boost the wages of some hospitality, agricultural, and retail workers in particular, it's generally not meant to increase the number of hours they work, but rather than number of total hours businesses are producing goods and services, and Greek workers already work more hours than those in any other European country, tallying an average of 41 hours per week (the pay they receive per hour is low by European standards, however); collective agreements have been frozen in the country for years, as the government has had to ask for three economic rescue packages, and has suffered through 15 years of recession and austerity measures, so this is generally being seen as another effort to shore things up at a moment of relative calm in that regard, making up for a lack of skilled workers by putting those who are available to work a little more, each week.—Deutsche WelleGunmen kill 15 police officers and several civilians in Russia's southern Dagestan regionSummary: Attacks by gunmen on two Orthodox churches, a synagogue, and a police post in two cities in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan on Sunday have left more than 15 people dead, according to local officials.Context: These attacks occurred near-simultaneously, and the country's Anti-Terrorist Committee has said the five confirmed gunmen have been killed, while the governor of the republic said six “bandits” were “liquidated”; no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, though there was a report that a local official was detained because of his son's possible involvement; another recent attack on a concert hall in Moscow, during which 139 people were killed, was initially (and without evidence) blamed on Ukraine, before the government admitted it was an Islamic State-linked group, and some reports suggest officials may try to link this new attack to Ukraine, as well, though there doesn't seem to be any evidence that's the case.—The Associated PressThe 2024 US election is looking to feature the most “double-hater” voters on record, with around 25% of surveyed Americans saying they don't particularly like either major candidate.—Axios$91.4 billionSum spent by the nine nuclear-armed countries on nuclear weapons in 2023, according to a new report by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.That's about $3,000 per second, and is around $10.7 billion more than was spent in 2022.—VOA NewsTrust Click Get full access to One Sentence News at onesentencenews.substack.com/subscribe

This episode of This Week Explained covers various global conflicts, including Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Hamas, Houthis providing weapons to al-Shabaab, the Poland-Belarus border crisis, and tensions between North and South Korea. The focus is on Ukraine intensifying efforts against Russian air defense systems in Crimea, with the U.S. providing weapons to aid Ukraine. The strategic implications of this policy change are discussed, highlighting the evolving dynamics in the region.------------Get your discount on a brand new BlendJet2 by going to our link: https://zen.ai/analytics12subscribe and follow us: https://linktr.ee/AucoinAnalytics---------------------Disclaimer:The views and opinions expressed on the podcast 'This Week Explained' are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any organization or entity. The information provided on the podcast is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice or a substitute for independent research and analysis. Each individual listener should research and identify their own opinions based on facts and logic before making any decisions based on the information provided on the podcast. The podcast hosts and guests are not responsible for any actions taken by individuals based on the information provided on the podcast.

Six Kenyan merchants, all of them professed followers of Jesus, were recently killed in a border town between Kenya and Somalia. Those responsible for the incident are suspected to be members of al-Shabaab, a militant Islamic group based in Somalia. The six victims of the attack had been selling plastic utensils and other household goods for the past six years. It's believed that the Christians were killed because they were active in sharing the Gospel with local Muslims. On the 2024 World Watch List, Open Doors ranked Somalia as second among the 50 listed nations considered to be the most difficult for those practising Christianity. In this edition of the Closer to the Fire podcast, host Greg Musselman is joined by a Somalian Christian leader who equips and trains followers of Jesus living in the war-torn country. “Joshua” (not his real name) provides insight into the many challenges facing believers in the Muslim-majority nation and why the church continues to grow amid intense persecution, even in areas where there are no church buildings. During the interview, the Muslim-background believer also shares about his personal journey to faith in Jesus. Length 45:30 The Voice of the Martyrs Canada: www.vomcanada.com To learn more about the persecution of Christians in Somalia, visit: https://www.vomcanada.com/somalia.htm

Bill and co-host Caleb catch up on the latest goings on related to the global jihad, including why the Islamic State's Moscow attack should surprise no one; Shabaab's rampage in Somalia and the prospect for the state's survival; rumors that Saif al-Adel's son has died; and fireworks on the Af-Pak border when the Pakistanis launched airstrikes apparently targeting members of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban.

#Somalia: Shabaab advances confidently. Bill Roggio, FDD. Caleb Weiss, FDD and Bridgeway Foundation. https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2024/03/shabaab-retakes-territory-as-the-u-s-sanctions-one-of-its-money-laundering-networks.php Undated Somalia

What makes a person want to become a terrorist? Who becomes involved in terrorism, and why? In what ways does participating in violent extremism change someone? And how can people become deradicalized? John Horgan―one of the world's leading experts on the psychology of terrorism―takes readers on a globe-spanning journey into the terrorist mindset. Drawing on groundbreaking personal interviews as well as decades of research from psychologists and others, he traces the pathways that lead people into violent extremism and explores what happens to them as their involvement deepens. Horgan provides an up-to-date, evidence-based understanding of the patterns, motives, and mentalities of violent extremists from the Islamic State and al-Shabaab to white supremacists and incels. He argues that there is not a straightforward psychological profile of a terrorist, in part because of the great variety of today's extremists, who are able to attract a more diverse pool of recruits than ever before. But even though there is no one-size-fits-all profile, psychological study can provide crucial insight into why and how people become terrorists. Accessible and nuanced, Terrorist Minds: The Psychology of Violent Extremism from Al-Qaeda to the Far Right (Columbia UP, 2023) is an essential book for readers interested in what psychology can explain about extremist behavior. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

What makes a person want to become a terrorist? Who becomes involved in terrorism, and why? In what ways does participating in violent extremism change someone? And how can people become deradicalized? John Horgan―one of the world's leading experts on the psychology of terrorism―takes readers on a globe-spanning journey into the terrorist mindset. Drawing on groundbreaking personal interviews as well as decades of research from psychologists and others, he traces the pathways that lead people into violent extremism and explores what happens to them as their involvement deepens. Horgan provides an up-to-date, evidence-based understanding of the patterns, motives, and mentalities of violent extremists from the Islamic State and al-Shabaab to white supremacists and incels. He argues that there is not a straightforward psychological profile of a terrorist, in part because of the great variety of today's extremists, who are able to attract a more diverse pool of recruits than ever before. But even though there is no one-size-fits-all profile, psychological study can provide crucial insight into why and how people become terrorists. Accessible and nuanced, Terrorist Minds: The Psychology of Violent Extremism from Al-Qaeda to the Far Right (Columbia UP, 2023) is an essential book for readers interested in what psychology can explain about extremist behavior. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

What makes a person want to become a terrorist? Who becomes involved in terrorism, and why? In what ways does participating in violent extremism change someone? And how can people become deradicalized? John Horgan―one of the world's leading experts on the psychology of terrorism―takes readers on a globe-spanning journey into the terrorist mindset. Drawing on groundbreaking personal interviews as well as decades of research from psychologists and others, he traces the pathways that lead people into violent extremism and explores what happens to them as their involvement deepens. Horgan provides an up-to-date, evidence-based understanding of the patterns, motives, and mentalities of violent extremists from the Islamic State and al-Shabaab to white supremacists and incels. He argues that there is not a straightforward psychological profile of a terrorist, in part because of the great variety of today's extremists, who are able to attract a more diverse pool of recruits than ever before. But even though there is no one-size-fits-all profile, psychological study can provide crucial insight into why and how people become terrorists. Accessible and nuanced, Terrorist Minds: The Psychology of Violent Extremism from Al-Qaeda to the Far Right (Columbia UP, 2023) is an essential book for readers interested in what psychology can explain about extremist behavior. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/national-security

What makes a person want to become a terrorist? Who becomes involved in terrorism, and why? In what ways does participating in violent extremism change someone? And how can people become deradicalized? John Horgan―one of the world's leading experts on the psychology of terrorism―takes readers on a globe-spanning journey into the terrorist mindset. Drawing on groundbreaking personal interviews as well as decades of research from psychologists and others, he traces the pathways that lead people into violent extremism and explores what happens to them as their involvement deepens. Horgan provides an up-to-date, evidence-based understanding of the patterns, motives, and mentalities of violent extremists from the Islamic State and al-Shabaab to white supremacists and incels. He argues that there is not a straightforward psychological profile of a terrorist, in part because of the great variety of today's extremists, who are able to attract a more diverse pool of recruits than ever before. But even though there is no one-size-fits-all profile, psychological study can provide crucial insight into why and how people become terrorists. Accessible and nuanced, Terrorist Minds: The Psychology of Violent Extremism from Al-Qaeda to the Far Right (Columbia UP, 2023) is an essential book for readers interested in what psychology can explain about extremist behavior. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/psychology

What makes a person want to become a terrorist? Who becomes involved in terrorism, and why? In what ways does participating in violent extremism change someone? And how can people become deradicalized? John Horgan―one of the world's leading experts on the psychology of terrorism―takes readers on a globe-spanning journey into the terrorist mindset. Drawing on groundbreaking personal interviews as well as decades of research from psychologists and others, he traces the pathways that lead people into violent extremism and explores what happens to them as their involvement deepens. Horgan provides an up-to-date, evidence-based understanding of the patterns, motives, and mentalities of violent extremists from the Islamic State and al-Shabaab to white supremacists and incels. He argues that there is not a straightforward psychological profile of a terrorist, in part because of the great variety of today's extremists, who are able to attract a more diverse pool of recruits than ever before. But even though there is no one-size-fits-all profile, psychological study can provide crucial insight into why and how people become terrorists. Accessible and nuanced, Terrorist Minds: The Psychology of Violent Extremism from Al-Qaeda to the Far Right (Columbia UP, 2023) is an essential book for readers interested in what psychology can explain about extremist behavior.

What makes a person want to become a terrorist? Who becomes involved in terrorism, and why? In what ways does participating in violent extremism change someone? And how can people become deradicalized? John Horgan―one of the world's leading experts on the psychology of terrorism―takes readers on a globe-spanning journey into the terrorist mindset. Drawing on groundbreaking personal interviews as well as decades of research from psychologists and others, he traces the pathways that lead people into violent extremism and explores what happens to them as their involvement deepens. Horgan provides an up-to-date, evidence-based understanding of the patterns, motives, and mentalities of violent extremists from the Islamic State and al-Shabaab to white supremacists and incels. He argues that there is not a straightforward psychological profile of a terrorist, in part because of the great variety of today's extremists, who are able to attract a more diverse pool of recruits than ever before. But even though there is no one-size-fits-all profile, psychological study can provide crucial insight into why and how people become terrorists. Accessible and nuanced, Terrorist Minds: The Psychology of Violent Extremism from Al-Qaeda to the Far Right (Columbia UP, 2023) is an essential book for readers interested in what psychology can explain about extremist behavior. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/van-leer-institute

What makes a person want to become a terrorist? Who becomes involved in terrorism, and why? In what ways does participating in violent extremism change someone? And how can people become deradicalized? John Horgan―one of the world's leading experts on the psychology of terrorism―takes readers on a globe-spanning journey into the terrorist mindset. Drawing on groundbreaking personal interviews as well as decades of research from psychologists and others, he traces the pathways that lead people into violent extremism and explores what happens to them as their involvement deepens. Horgan provides an up-to-date, evidence-based understanding of the patterns, motives, and mentalities of violent extremists from the Islamic State and al-Shabaab to white supremacists and incels. He argues that there is not a straightforward psychological profile of a terrorist, in part because of the great variety of today's extremists, who are able to attract a more diverse pool of recruits than ever before. But even though there is no one-size-fits-all profile, psychological study can provide crucial insight into why and how people become terrorists. Accessible and nuanced, Terrorist Minds: The Psychology of Violent Extremism from Al-Qaeda to the Far Right (Columbia UP, 2023) is an essential book for readers interested in what psychology can explain about extremist behavior. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

In the midst of the ongoing national dialogue surrounding immigration, Minnesota officials are pushing for policies that would provide protection to individuals who have entered the country without legal documentation. This move is under consideration despite the recent detention of an individual by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who was suspected to have connections with the terrorist group al-Shabaab. ICE reported that earlier in the year, a 27-year-old individual from Somalia was detained in Minneapolis, having previously breached the country's borders near San Ysidro, California. Post his apprehension, he was allowed to roam freely within the country. The proposed policy changes are being advocated by a group of state legislators, mostly Democrats, who are calling for a new law that would put restrictions on state law enforcement agencies, preventing them from aiding federal bodies in the removal of such individuals who have entered and are residing in the United States unlawfully. This proposed legislation, suitably termed the 'North Star Act,' marked its presence in the Senate as well as the House of Representatives in 2023. The driving force behind this legislative initiative is Sandra Feist, a state representative from the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), who postulated that implementing federal immigration laws would not be an optimal use of state resources, given its existing challenges and priorities. She expressed this viewpoint during a conversation with the Reformer.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sara Gonzales has proof that Biden's border catastrophe has been planned since 1996. Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are garbage influencers, and their endorsement won't matter in the 2024 election if Republicans can't get their heads out of their you-know-whats. ICE recaptured an illegal Somali immigrant being harbored in Ilhan Omar's district in Minnesota after he crossed the border and was released before Biden's Border Patrol could confirm him as a member of al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda affiliate in East Africa — highlighting a major threat looming from our wide-open southern border. Three U.S. soldiers are dead from a drone strike in Iran, and we still don't know the caliber of the response the White House and Pentagon are planning or when it will occur. Texas Republican state Rep. Tony Tinderholt and Blaze Media digital strategist Logan Hall join the show for in-depth coverage of the country's trending political topics. Today's Sponsors: Let's join together and help mothers choose LIFE. Just dial #250 and say the keyword BABY or visit https://www.preborn.com/sara. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4pm - TINFOIL HAT TIME: Why the FBI might be responsible for more domestic terrorist attacks than al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab and ISIS combined // FBI Director Rejects Claim That Agents Orchestrated January 6 Violence // Taking Questions on Tin Foil Hat Time // John’s Admits the last hour was pretty kooky

In August, the U.S. Africa Command, aka AFRICOM, reported that it had killed 13 al-Shabaab fighters in southern Somalia. Though the U.S. government said that it did not kill any civilians this time around, several past airstrikes have claimed innocent lives. In one notable example from March 2018, U.S. drone operators killed a 22-year-old mother, Lul Dahir Mohamed, and her 4-year-old daughter, Mariam, as they hitched a ride in a pickup truck with suspected militants. In a recently published article for The Intercept, Nick Turse offers an unprecedented account of the March 2018 strike, thanks to his reporting in Mogadishu and a secret Pentagon investigation he obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. As Nick writes, “This is a story about misconnections, flawed intelligence, and fatal blindness. It started with bad cell service and ended with an American missile obliterating civilians the U.S. didn't intend to kill, but didn't care enough to save.” Lawfare Managing Editor Tyler McBrien sat down with Nick, contributing writer at The Intercept, to discuss his piece, a post mortem of that fatal drone strike, and the wider context of AFRICOM's drone war across the region from the Obama administration through the present day. They also discussed why this special operations strike cell “seemed like they did everything wrong,” according to one American drone pilot who worked in Somalia.Please note that this episode contains content that some people may find disturbing, including graphic depictions of deadly drone strikes. Listener discretion is advised.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Where in the world might the next state collapse into failure?Hosts Bill and Caleb ultimately narrowed it down to two options: Somalia or Mali.Shabaab in Somalia has aptly been dubbed "The Taliban of Africa," given how well-organized, well-armed and effective it is there as a jihadist group.But Mali is actually the weaker state. To boot:— The UN has undertaken an unprecedented withdrawal of its peacekeeping forces and will no longer have a presence in Mali by the end of this year;— France, which was a major counterterrorism partner, has already completely withdrawn its troops from Mali;— There is currently an Islamic Statelet in northern Mali, where the Islamic State controls the majority of an entire province;— Al Qaeda controls huge swaths of territory in both northern and central Mali, and it increasingly threatens Bamako as it slowly encroaches on the capital;— And also in the ring: Russia's Wagner Group.Despite all of these excellent targets, the country's ruling military junta in Bamako is threatening open conflict with rebels in the north — a situation that could easily erupt into war.Bill and Caleb agree: It's Mali on the brink.

Africa is the second largest continent in the world, both in land area and population. It has more than 1.2 billion people — most of them young and poor — living in 54 countries. If current demographic trends continue, Africa will account for a quarter of humanity by the middle of this century.In Africa, conflicts are more often within countries rather than between them. Sudan and Ethiopia are current examples.Today, al Qaeda and the Islamic State are active across Africa. So is the Wagner Group, a lawless private army loyal to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.And China's ruling Communist Party has become a neo-imperialist power on the continent, exploiting African peoples and resources.Joining host Cliff May to talk about Africa is Joshua Meservey.He's currently a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, where he focuses on African geopolitics, counterterrorism, and great power competition in Africa.He was previously a research fellow for Africa at the Heritage Foundation. He's also worked at the US Army Special Operations Command, for Church World Service based out of Nairobi, Kenya, and he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia. And he's a member of FDD's National Security Network.

Trevor Aaronson – Journalist and author of The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on Terrorism – joins Tavis for a conversation unpacking how the FBI infiltrated BLM protests after the murder of George Floyd and breaks down how the FBI is responsible for more terrorism plots in the United States than al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab and ISIS combined.

Somaliland ayaa Alshabaab ku eedeysay in ay yihiin kuwa duqaynta u gaystay magaalada Laascaanood, sababtana waxey ku sheegeen in ay fidno ka shaqaynayaan.

Facts & Spin for February 14, 2023 top stories: A Georgia judge orders a partial release of a Trump grand jury report, Turkey investigates 131 people over building collapses, Russia claims gains along Ukraine's frontline, China says it has detected at least 10 US spy balloons in the last year, Israel legalizes nine West Bank settlement outposts, The Bank of England says Brexit has cost $29 billion in lost investment, The FBI finds another classified document at Pence's home, The US military says it killed 12 al-Shabaab fighters, The US government warns Americans in Russia to leave 'immediately,' and Cambodia shuts down its last independent broadcaster. Sources: https://www.improvethenews.org/   Brief Listener Survey: https://www.improvethenews.org/pod

Doug Wilson: Rated “R” Combat - Play 0:00-2:06 That was Pastor Doug Wilson at our most recent Fight Laugh Feast Conference on his talk, Rated “R” Combat. You guys know where you can find this talk right? That’s right, in our club portal! Our backstage content is for our Fight Laugh Feast Club members, so head on over to fightlaughfeast.com. Again, that’s fightlaughfeast.com… and your support means a lot to us. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/politics/us-isis-leader-killed-somalia/index.html US military operation kills senior ISIS leader in Somalia CNN - A US military operation killed a senior ISIS leader and 10 members of the terror group in northern Somalia on Wednesday, two senior Biden administration officials said on Thursday. “From a mountainous cave complex in northern Somalia, Bilal al-Sudani is assessed to have supported ISIS’ expansion and activities across Africa and beyond the continent,” the first senior administration official said. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed that al-Sudani had been killed in a statement later on Thursday. “On January 25, on orders from the President, the U.S. military conducted an assault operation in northern Somalia that resulted in the death of a number of ISIS members, including Bilal-al-Sudani, an ISIS leader in Somalia and a key facilitator for ISIS’s global network. Al-Sudani was responsible for fostering the growing presence of ISIS in Africa and for funding the group’s operations worldwide, including in Afghanistan,” Austin said. “No civilians were harmed as a result of this operation. We are grateful to our extraordinary service members as well as our intelligence community and other interagency partners for their support to this successful counterterrorism operation,” Austin added. US forces, according to the official, were prepared to capture al-Sudani but the “hostile force’s response” ultimately resulted in his death. No US troops or civilians were killed, although one service member was injured during the operation after being bitten by an American military dog.The second official said that the US notified two counterterrorism partners, including the Somali government. It’s unusual for the US to carry out an operation against ISIS in Somalia, where military operations have typically focused on al-Shabaab fighters, the dominant terror group in Somalia. The strike comes after US forces killed two top ISIS leaders in an airstrike in Syria near the end of last year. The operation represents the continuation of the Biden administration’s strategy to counter terrorist threats through “over-the-horizon” operations like this, a shift in strategy the president made clear following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Al-Sudani was sanctioned by the US treasury in 2012 for helping foreign fighters travel to an al-Shabaab training camp and facilitating financing, according to the first official. The operation, according to the first official, is expected to provide “valuable information” for the US intelligence community, although they declined to go into specifics. The operation was announced by US Africa Command (AFRICOM) on Thursday, which said only that the US military “conducted a successful counterterrorism operation in Somalia” and that “no civilians were injured or killed.” The second senior administration official said on Thursday that senior members of President Joe Biden’s national security team were first briefed on the intelligence that led to this operation a “number of months ago.” Biden authorized the operation earlier this week. The first official declined to provide details on the service members who were involved in the operation but emphasized their “exceptional preparation” for the mission. https://www.foxnews.com/media/biden-official-pushed-ban-gas-stoves-calls-anger-misdirected Biden official who pushed to ban gas stoves calls anger over it ‘misdirected’ U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. pushed back against the firestorm his comments about banning gas stoves created, calling the anger "misdirected." "When you learn upsetting new information about something you’ve been around for a long time — maybe your whole life — you can never predict people’s reactions," he said. "And there is going to be justifiable anger, and sometimes it’s misdirected," he told The Washington Post. Trumka was appointed by President Biden in 2021 and is the son of labor union leader, Richard Trumka, the longtime president of AFL-CIO. The Biden official admitted to the paper that his work and experience as a father made him "paranoid" about every day hazards. "It’s very easy to see how everyday things can be hazardous," Trumka said to the outlet adding later, "I’m much more paranoid than the average person." But the Biden official hoped the national debate over gas stoves caused more people to be aware of how their indoor appliances could be causing health risks due to pollution. The Post noted that the Consumer Product Safety Commission is in "the very early stages" of determining regulations on new gas stoves, after "years of research" has found they emit nitrogen dioxide. But when asked by Fox News Digital, the government agency could not provide any specific studies that backed up these claims to justify a ban on these products. Bans against stoves have started at the local and state level. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed abolishing the sale of gas-powered appliances and banning their installation in new buildings by 2025. Democrats and far-left environmental groups are pushing to regulate several other household appliances, from water heaters to furnaces, to washing machines to microwaves and shower heads in their quest to get Americans away from fossil fuels. "We’re actually going to do 100 rules this year alone on appliances," former top White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy said during a speech last May. "We are developing partnerships on how we work together for new building standards." But when news broke earlier this month that the Biden administration was considering a ban on gas stoves, it created a backlash from the public, restaurant owners and Republicans who slammed the move as an example of government overreach. https://thepostmillennial.com/katie-hobbs-to-bus-illegal-immigrants-out-of-arizona-wont-say-where-they-are-going?utm_campaign=64487 Katie Hobbs to bus illegal immigrants out of Arizona, won't say where they are going Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is continuing her Republican predecessor Doug Ducey’s program to bus illegal migrants out of the state, but in a way that she says will be more "efficient and humane." Hobbs told The Arizona Republic on Tuesday that her administration would focus on ensuring that the program and associated costs were "efficient and humane." Ducey began busing the illegal migrants out of the state in May, and Hobbs has expanded the program to include an option of chartered air travel, according to an updated contract signed on January 14. Over 3,000 people were bused from the Yuma area to Washington DC during Ducey’s time in office, costing the state over $7 million. Last year, Republican lawmakers had earmarked $15 million for the program. Earlier this week, a Yuma official warned that the city is on the brink of collapse due to being overwhelmed by illegal migrants thanks to the Biden administration's failed immigration policies. The border has seen a historic crisis under President Joe Biden's presidency. Illegal border crossings in December reached their highest level of the Biden administration, topping 250,000 in the final month of 2022 continuing the pattern of breaking records every month. Hobbs told reporters last week regarding the bussing: "We need to look at that practice and make sure it’s effective, [that] it’s something that supports local communities. If we’re spending the money to bus people, why not just get them to their final destination?" Hobbs told The Arizona Republic that her actions would be different than the methods of Republican governors Greg Abbott, of Texas, and Ron DeSantis, of Florida, who both have transported migrants to Democratic-run cities to showcase the failure of Biden’s border policies. An updated contract removed the requirement that buses with illegal immigrants must be sent to Washington, DC. Last year, Washington, DC's Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public emergency related to the migrants being bussed to the US capital. Democratic New York Mayor Eric Adams declared that there is no more room for illegal immigrants in the city despite its status as a "sanctuary city" for migrants, and called on the federal government to solve the crisis. Hobbs added, "We're interested in focusing on the humanitarian aspects of this and just putting people on a bus as a political stunt and sending them to Martha's Vineyard or wherever they went is not providing any help or any solution to the actual issue." https://www.dailyfetched.com/cnns-primetime-viewership-plummets-to-just-444000-as-don-lemon-hits-record-low/ CNN’s Primetime Viewership Plummets to Just 444,000 as Don Lemon Hits Record Low And no, it wasn’t a slow new week. Between the classified documents scandal, Ukraine, and the roil over House committee seats, CNN had plenty to report on, or should we say ‘spin.’ Meanwhile, Fox News raked in an n average of 1.996 million primetime viewers during that week, five times more than CNN. MSNBC faired better than CNN, attracting nearly a million with 943,000 average primetime viewers. CNN barely cracked 400,000 with just 417,000 in total day viewers. Fox News more than tripled that with 1.387 million. MSNBC did better but still only averaged 629,000 total viewers throughout the day. In the 25-54 age demographic that sets advertiser rates, Fox News averaged 256,000 demo viewers, MSNBC averaged just 91,000, and CNN did just 93,000. Fox News averaged 176,000 demo viewers throughout the day and came in a distant second with 80,000, and MSNBC came in last with 69,000. For cable news, which set a baseline for success for 100,000 demo viewers, CNN and MSNBC are failing miserably. In all of cable, Fox News came in second behind ESPN in total primetime viewers, MSNBC third, and CNN eighteenth. Newly-installed Chris Licht was supposed to turn CNN back into a network viewers wanted to watch, but it doesn’t look like it’s working. In other words, CNN sucks. As previously reported, Lemon was demoted from his primetime show to save CNN’s failed morning show. With Lemon on board, New Day became CNN This Morning, and that became a catastrophe that averaged only 331,000 viewers. During that time, Fox News attracted 1.3 million and 180,000 demo viewers. Don Lemon sunk to only 65,000 demo viewers. CNN has been a national joke for quite a while, but now it’s official. https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2023/01/26/biden-makes-first-move-toward-a-radical-national-rent-control-law-n1665210 Biden Makes First Move Toward a Radical National Rent Control Law Responding to a letter sent earlier this month by congressional radicals like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urging the president to take executive action to prevent evictions and lower rent prices, Joe Biden has initiated a series of actions that will eventually lead to a national rent control law. Since the beginning of the republic, laws governing rent and leases have been local matters. If a landlord is cheating renters, local and state governments have the authority and the tools to punish the landlord. And being much closer to the problems of renters and landlords than anyone in Washington, local and state governments have a much better handle on the local rental housing situation. But now, the federal government doesn’t believe that landlords should be compensated for owning rental property. They’re “gouging” renters. This is after more than two years of preventing landlords from evicting renters for non-payment of rent. And in a period of rapidly rising inflation, landlords are being accused of “profiteering” at the expense of renters. It’s a ridiculous charge given that 98 percent of all rental property owners, or 80 percent of all rental properties, are owned by small business entrepreneurs who own five units or fewer, according to a study in Business Wire. These rules, and any legislation supported by AOC, would destroy the rental housing market and make it much harder to find affordable housing. What small business owner wants to be beholden to Washington for their business? Rental housing will disappear — perhaps the intended purpose of the new rules. The narrative of corporate greed being responsible for rent increases is a far easier sell than small businesses struggling to keep their properties during an inflationary economy that Warren, AOC, and Biden are mostly responsible for. https://www.boundingintosports.com/2023/01/aaron-rodgers-blasts-woke-culture-and-torches-sports-media-for-being-sponsored-by-pfizer/ Aaron Rodgers Blasts “Woke Culture” And Torches Sports Media For Being Sponsored By Pfizer Rodgers comments on woke culture came after he was questioned about a number of sports media outlets claiming he will be traded in the offseason and that he is only playing in the NFL to just win another MVP. Aaron Rodgers Responds To Sports Media Who Criticised Him "Wanting Another MVP" | Pat McAfee Show Play 0:00-3:20

Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! Somalia’s security landscape is complex, making the challenge of understanding the terrorist group al-Shabaab especially challenging. The group uses intricate methods to maintain its foothold in East Africa, complicating both international and indigenous efforts to counter the threat it poses. To examine al-Shabaab and the critical contextual influences unique to Somalia, this episode features a conversation with two guests. Mary Harper is the Africa editor at BBC World Service News and author of Everything You Have Told Me is True: The Many Faces of Al Shabaab. Sam Wilkins is an Army Special Forces officer with operational experience in Somalia. Together, their insights and expert perspectives help to paint a picture of the Somalia-based terrorist organization and its effects on security and stability in the region. Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Doug Wilson: Rated “R” Combat - Play 0:00-2:06 That was Pastor Doug Wilson at our most recent Fight Laugh Feast Conference on his talk, Rated “R” Combat. You guys know where you can find this talk right? That’s right, in our club portal! Our backstage content is for our Fight Laugh Feast Club members, so head on over to fightlaughfeast.com. Again, that’s fightlaughfeast.com… and your support means a lot to us. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/politics/us-isis-leader-killed-somalia/index.html US military operation kills senior ISIS leader in Somalia CNN - A US military operation killed a senior ISIS leader and 10 members of the terror group in northern Somalia on Wednesday, two senior Biden administration officials said on Thursday. “From a mountainous cave complex in northern Somalia, Bilal al-Sudani is assessed to have supported ISIS’ expansion and activities across Africa and beyond the continent,” the first senior administration official said. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed that al-Sudani had been killed in a statement later on Thursday. “On January 25, on orders from the President, the U.S. military conducted an assault operation in northern Somalia that resulted in the death of a number of ISIS members, including Bilal-al-Sudani, an ISIS leader in Somalia and a key facilitator for ISIS’s global network. Al-Sudani was responsible for fostering the growing presence of ISIS in Africa and for funding the group’s operations worldwide, including in Afghanistan,” Austin said. “No civilians were harmed as a result of this operation. We are grateful to our extraordinary service members as well as our intelligence community and other interagency partners for their support to this successful counterterrorism operation,” Austin added. US forces, according to the official, were prepared to capture al-Sudani but the “hostile force’s response” ultimately resulted in his death. No US troops or civilians were killed, although one service member was injured during the operation after being bitten by an American military dog.The second official said that the US notified two counterterrorism partners, including the Somali government. It’s unusual for the US to carry out an operation against ISIS in Somalia, where military operations have typically focused on al-Shabaab fighters, the dominant terror group in Somalia. The strike comes after US forces killed two top ISIS leaders in an airstrike in Syria near the end of last year. The operation represents the continuation of the Biden administration’s strategy to counter terrorist threats through “over-the-horizon” operations like this, a shift in strategy the president made clear following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Al-Sudani was sanctioned by the US treasury in 2012 for helping foreign fighters travel to an al-Shabaab training camp and facilitating financing, according to the first official. The operation, according to the first official, is expected to provide “valuable information” for the US intelligence community, although they declined to go into specifics. The operation was announced by US Africa Command (AFRICOM) on Thursday, which said only that the US military “conducted a successful counterterrorism operation in Somalia” and that “no civilians were injured or killed.” The second senior administration official said on Thursday that senior members of President Joe Biden’s national security team were first briefed on the intelligence that led to this operation a “number of months ago.” Biden authorized the operation earlier this week. The first official declined to provide details on the service members who were involved in the operation but emphasized their “exceptional preparation” for the mission. https://www.foxnews.com/media/biden-official-pushed-ban-gas-stoves-calls-anger-misdirected Biden official who pushed to ban gas stoves calls anger over it ‘misdirected’ U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. pushed back against the firestorm his comments about banning gas stoves created, calling the anger "misdirected." "When you learn upsetting new information about something you’ve been around for a long time — maybe your whole life — you can never predict people’s reactions," he said. "And there is going to be justifiable anger, and sometimes it’s misdirected," he told The Washington Post. Trumka was appointed by President Biden in 2021 and is the son of labor union leader, Richard Trumka, the longtime president of AFL-CIO. The Biden official admitted to the paper that his work and experience as a father made him "paranoid" about every day hazards. "It’s very easy to see how everyday things can be hazardous," Trumka said to the outlet adding later, "I’m much more paranoid than the average person." But the Biden official hoped the national debate over gas stoves caused more people to be aware of how their indoor appliances could be causing health risks due to pollution. The Post noted that the Consumer Product Safety Commission is in "the very early stages" of determining regulations on new gas stoves, after "years of research" has found they emit nitrogen dioxide. But when asked by Fox News Digital, the government agency could not provide any specific studies that backed up these claims to justify a ban on these products. Bans against stoves have started at the local and state level. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed abolishing the sale of gas-powered appliances and banning their installation in new buildings by 2025. Democrats and far-left environmental groups are pushing to regulate several other household appliances, from water heaters to furnaces, to washing machines to microwaves and shower heads in their quest to get Americans away from fossil fuels. "We’re actually going to do 100 rules this year alone on appliances," former top White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy said during a speech last May. "We are developing partnerships on how we work together for new building standards." But when news broke earlier this month that the Biden administration was considering a ban on gas stoves, it created a backlash from the public, restaurant owners and Republicans who slammed the move as an example of government overreach. https://thepostmillennial.com/katie-hobbs-to-bus-illegal-immigrants-out-of-arizona-wont-say-where-they-are-going?utm_campaign=64487 Katie Hobbs to bus illegal immigrants out of Arizona, won't say where they are going Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is continuing her Republican predecessor Doug Ducey’s program to bus illegal migrants out of the state, but in a way that she says will be more "efficient and humane." Hobbs told The Arizona Republic on Tuesday that her administration would focus on ensuring that the program and associated costs were "efficient and humane." Ducey began busing the illegal migrants out of the state in May, and Hobbs has expanded the program to include an option of chartered air travel, according to an updated contract signed on January 14. Over 3,000 people were bused from the Yuma area to Washington DC during Ducey’s time in office, costing the state over $7 million. Last year, Republican lawmakers had earmarked $15 million for the program. Earlier this week, a Yuma official warned that the city is on the brink of collapse due to being overwhelmed by illegal migrants thanks to the Biden administration's failed immigration policies. The border has seen a historic crisis under President Joe Biden's presidency. Illegal border crossings in December reached their highest level of the Biden administration, topping 250,000 in the final month of 2022 continuing the pattern of breaking records every month. Hobbs told reporters last week regarding the bussing: "We need to look at that practice and make sure it’s effective, [that] it’s something that supports local communities. If we’re spending the money to bus people, why not just get them to their final destination?" Hobbs told The Arizona Republic that her actions would be different than the methods of Republican governors Greg Abbott, of Texas, and Ron DeSantis, of Florida, who both have transported migrants to Democratic-run cities to showcase the failure of Biden’s border policies. An updated contract removed the requirement that buses with illegal immigrants must be sent to Washington, DC. Last year, Washington, DC's Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public emergency related to the migrants being bussed to the US capital. Democratic New York Mayor Eric Adams declared that there is no more room for illegal immigrants in the city despite its status as a "sanctuary city" for migrants, and called on the federal government to solve the crisis. Hobbs added, "We're interested in focusing on the humanitarian aspects of this and just putting people on a bus as a political stunt and sending them to Martha's Vineyard or wherever they went is not providing any help or any solution to the actual issue." https://www.dailyfetched.com/cnns-primetime-viewership-plummets-to-just-444000-as-don-lemon-hits-record-low/ CNN’s Primetime Viewership Plummets to Just 444,000 as Don Lemon Hits Record Low And no, it wasn’t a slow new week. Between the classified documents scandal, Ukraine, and the roil over House committee seats, CNN had plenty to report on, or should we say ‘spin.’ Meanwhile, Fox News raked in an n average of 1.996 million primetime viewers during that week, five times more than CNN. MSNBC faired better than CNN, attracting nearly a million with 943,000 average primetime viewers. CNN barely cracked 400,000 with just 417,000 in total day viewers. Fox News more than tripled that with 1.387 million. MSNBC did better but still only averaged 629,000 total viewers throughout the day. In the 25-54 age demographic that sets advertiser rates, Fox News averaged 256,000 demo viewers, MSNBC averaged just 91,000, and CNN did just 93,000. Fox News averaged 176,000 demo viewers throughout the day and came in a distant second with 80,000, and MSNBC came in last with 69,000. For cable news, which set a baseline for success for 100,000 demo viewers, CNN and MSNBC are failing miserably. In all of cable, Fox News came in second behind ESPN in total primetime viewers, MSNBC third, and CNN eighteenth. Newly-installed Chris Licht was supposed to turn CNN back into a network viewers wanted to watch, but it doesn’t look like it’s working. In other words, CNN sucks. As previously reported, Lemon was demoted from his primetime show to save CNN’s failed morning show. With Lemon on board, New Day became CNN This Morning, and that became a catastrophe that averaged only 331,000 viewers. During that time, Fox News attracted 1.3 million and 180,000 demo viewers. Don Lemon sunk to only 65,000 demo viewers. CNN has been a national joke for quite a while, but now it’s official. https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2023/01/26/biden-makes-first-move-toward-a-radical-national-rent-control-law-n1665210 Biden Makes First Move Toward a Radical National Rent Control Law Responding to a letter sent earlier this month by congressional radicals like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urging the president to take executive action to prevent evictions and lower rent prices, Joe Biden has initiated a series of actions that will eventually lead to a national rent control law. Since the beginning of the republic, laws governing rent and leases have been local matters. If a landlord is cheating renters, local and state governments have the authority and the tools to punish the landlord. And being much closer to the problems of renters and landlords than anyone in Washington, local and state governments have a much better handle on the local rental housing situation. But now, the federal government doesn’t believe that landlords should be compensated for owning rental property. They’re “gouging” renters. This is after more than two years of preventing landlords from evicting renters for non-payment of rent. And in a period of rapidly rising inflation, landlords are being accused of “profiteering” at the expense of renters. It’s a ridiculous charge given that 98 percent of all rental property owners, or 80 percent of all rental properties, are owned by small business entrepreneurs who own five units or fewer, according to a study in Business Wire. These rules, and any legislation supported by AOC, would destroy the rental housing market and make it much harder to find affordable housing. What small business owner wants to be beholden to Washington for their business? Rental housing will disappear — perhaps the intended purpose of the new rules. The narrative of corporate greed being responsible for rent increases is a far easier sell than small businesses struggling to keep their properties during an inflationary economy that Warren, AOC, and Biden are mostly responsible for. https://www.boundingintosports.com/2023/01/aaron-rodgers-blasts-woke-culture-and-torches-sports-media-for-being-sponsored-by-pfizer/ Aaron Rodgers Blasts “Woke Culture” And Torches Sports Media For Being Sponsored By Pfizer Rodgers comments on woke culture came after he was questioned about a number of sports media outlets claiming he will be traded in the offseason and that he is only playing in the NFL to just win another MVP. Aaron Rodgers Responds To Sports Media Who Criticised Him "Wanting Another MVP" | Pat McAfee Show Play 0:00-3:20

Doug Wilson: Rated “R” Combat - Play 0:00-2:06 That was Pastor Doug Wilson at our most recent Fight Laugh Feast Conference on his talk, Rated “R” Combat. You guys know where you can find this talk right? That’s right, in our club portal! Our backstage content is for our Fight Laugh Feast Club members, so head on over to fightlaughfeast.com. Again, that’s fightlaughfeast.com… and your support means a lot to us. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/politics/us-isis-leader-killed-somalia/index.html US military operation kills senior ISIS leader in Somalia CNN - A US military operation killed a senior ISIS leader and 10 members of the terror group in northern Somalia on Wednesday, two senior Biden administration officials said on Thursday. “From a mountainous cave complex in northern Somalia, Bilal al-Sudani is assessed to have supported ISIS’ expansion and activities across Africa and beyond the continent,” the first senior administration official said. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed that al-Sudani had been killed in a statement later on Thursday. “On January 25, on orders from the President, the U.S. military conducted an assault operation in northern Somalia that resulted in the death of a number of ISIS members, including Bilal-al-Sudani, an ISIS leader in Somalia and a key facilitator for ISIS’s global network. Al-Sudani was responsible for fostering the growing presence of ISIS in Africa and for funding the group’s operations worldwide, including in Afghanistan,” Austin said. “No civilians were harmed as a result of this operation. We are grateful to our extraordinary service members as well as our intelligence community and other interagency partners for their support to this successful counterterrorism operation,” Austin added. US forces, according to the official, were prepared to capture al-Sudani but the “hostile force’s response” ultimately resulted in his death. No US troops or civilians were killed, although one service member was injured during the operation after being bitten by an American military dog.The second official said that the US notified two counterterrorism partners, including the Somali government. It’s unusual for the US to carry out an operation against ISIS in Somalia, where military operations have typically focused on al-Shabaab fighters, the dominant terror group in Somalia. The strike comes after US forces killed two top ISIS leaders in an airstrike in Syria near the end of last year. The operation represents the continuation of the Biden administration’s strategy to counter terrorist threats through “over-the-horizon” operations like this, a shift in strategy the president made clear following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Al-Sudani was sanctioned by the US treasury in 2012 for helping foreign fighters travel to an al-Shabaab training camp and facilitating financing, according to the first official. The operation, according to the first official, is expected to provide “valuable information” for the US intelligence community, although they declined to go into specifics. The operation was announced by US Africa Command (AFRICOM) on Thursday, which said only that the US military “conducted a successful counterterrorism operation in Somalia” and that “no civilians were injured or killed.” The second senior administration official said on Thursday that senior members of President Joe Biden’s national security team were first briefed on the intelligence that led to this operation a “number of months ago.” Biden authorized the operation earlier this week. The first official declined to provide details on the service members who were involved in the operation but emphasized their “exceptional preparation” for the mission. https://www.foxnews.com/media/biden-official-pushed-ban-gas-stoves-calls-anger-misdirected Biden official who pushed to ban gas stoves calls anger over it ‘misdirected’ U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. pushed back against the firestorm his comments about banning gas stoves created, calling the anger "misdirected." "When you learn upsetting new information about something you’ve been around for a long time — maybe your whole life — you can never predict people’s reactions," he said. "And there is going to be justifiable anger, and sometimes it’s misdirected," he told The Washington Post. Trumka was appointed by President Biden in 2021 and is the son of labor union leader, Richard Trumka, the longtime president of AFL-CIO. The Biden official admitted to the paper that his work and experience as a father made him "paranoid" about every day hazards. "It’s very easy to see how everyday things can be hazardous," Trumka said to the outlet adding later, "I’m much more paranoid than the average person." But the Biden official hoped the national debate over gas stoves caused more people to be aware of how their indoor appliances could be causing health risks due to pollution. The Post noted that the Consumer Product Safety Commission is in "the very early stages" of determining regulations on new gas stoves, after "years of research" has found they emit nitrogen dioxide. But when asked by Fox News Digital, the government agency could not provide any specific studies that backed up these claims to justify a ban on these products. Bans against stoves have started at the local and state level. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed abolishing the sale of gas-powered appliances and banning their installation in new buildings by 2025. Democrats and far-left environmental groups are pushing to regulate several other household appliances, from water heaters to furnaces, to washing machines to microwaves and shower heads in their quest to get Americans away from fossil fuels. "We’re actually going to do 100 rules this year alone on appliances," former top White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy said during a speech last May. "We are developing partnerships on how we work together for new building standards." But when news broke earlier this month that the Biden administration was considering a ban on gas stoves, it created a backlash from the public, restaurant owners and Republicans who slammed the move as an example of government overreach. https://thepostmillennial.com/katie-hobbs-to-bus-illegal-immigrants-out-of-arizona-wont-say-where-they-are-going?utm_campaign=64487 Katie Hobbs to bus illegal immigrants out of Arizona, won't say where they are going Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is continuing her Republican predecessor Doug Ducey’s program to bus illegal migrants out of the state, but in a way that she says will be more "efficient and humane." Hobbs told The Arizona Republic on Tuesday that her administration would focus on ensuring that the program and associated costs were "efficient and humane." Ducey began busing the illegal migrants out of the state in May, and Hobbs has expanded the program to include an option of chartered air travel, according to an updated contract signed on January 14. Over 3,000 people were bused from the Yuma area to Washington DC during Ducey’s time in office, costing the state over $7 million. Last year, Republican lawmakers had earmarked $15 million for the program. Earlier this week, a Yuma official warned that the city is on the brink of collapse due to being overwhelmed by illegal migrants thanks to the Biden administration's failed immigration policies. The border has seen a historic crisis under President Joe Biden's presidency. Illegal border crossings in December reached their highest level of the Biden administration, topping 250,000 in the final month of 2022 continuing the pattern of breaking records every month. Hobbs told reporters last week regarding the bussing: "We need to look at that practice and make sure it’s effective, [that] it’s something that supports local communities. If we’re spending the money to bus people, why not just get them to their final destination?" Hobbs told The Arizona Republic that her actions would be different than the methods of Republican governors Greg Abbott, of Texas, and Ron DeSantis, of Florida, who both have transported migrants to Democratic-run cities to showcase the failure of Biden’s border policies. An updated contract removed the requirement that buses with illegal immigrants must be sent to Washington, DC. Last year, Washington, DC's Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public emergency related to the migrants being bussed to the US capital. Democratic New York Mayor Eric Adams declared that there is no more room for illegal immigrants in the city despite its status as a "sanctuary city" for migrants, and called on the federal government to solve the crisis. Hobbs added, "We're interested in focusing on the humanitarian aspects of this and just putting people on a bus as a political stunt and sending them to Martha's Vineyard or wherever they went is not providing any help or any solution to the actual issue." https://www.dailyfetched.com/cnns-primetime-viewership-plummets-to-just-444000-as-don-lemon-hits-record-low/ CNN’s Primetime Viewership Plummets to Just 444,000 as Don Lemon Hits Record Low And no, it wasn’t a slow new week. Between the classified documents scandal, Ukraine, and the roil over House committee seats, CNN had plenty to report on, or should we say ‘spin.’ Meanwhile, Fox News raked in an n average of 1.996 million primetime viewers during that week, five times more than CNN. MSNBC faired better than CNN, attracting nearly a million with 943,000 average primetime viewers. CNN barely cracked 400,000 with just 417,000 in total day viewers. Fox News more than tripled that with 1.387 million. MSNBC did better but still only averaged 629,000 total viewers throughout the day. In the 25-54 age demographic that sets advertiser rates, Fox News averaged 256,000 demo viewers, MSNBC averaged just 91,000, and CNN did just 93,000. Fox News averaged 176,000 demo viewers throughout the day and came in a distant second with 80,000, and MSNBC came in last with 69,000. For cable news, which set a baseline for success for 100,000 demo viewers, CNN and MSNBC are failing miserably. In all of cable, Fox News came in second behind ESPN in total primetime viewers, MSNBC third, and CNN eighteenth. Newly-installed Chris Licht was supposed to turn CNN back into a network viewers wanted to watch, but it doesn’t look like it’s working. In other words, CNN sucks. As previously reported, Lemon was demoted from his primetime show to save CNN’s failed morning show. With Lemon on board, New Day became CNN This Morning, and that became a catastrophe that averaged only 331,000 viewers. During that time, Fox News attracted 1.3 million and 180,000 demo viewers. Don Lemon sunk to only 65,000 demo viewers. CNN has been a national joke for quite a while, but now it’s official. https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2023/01/26/biden-makes-first-move-toward-a-radical-national-rent-control-law-n1665210 Biden Makes First Move Toward a Radical National Rent Control Law Responding to a letter sent earlier this month by congressional radicals like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urging the president to take executive action to prevent evictions and lower rent prices, Joe Biden has initiated a series of actions that will eventually lead to a national rent control law. Since the beginning of the republic, laws governing rent and leases have been local matters. If a landlord is cheating renters, local and state governments have the authority and the tools to punish the landlord. And being much closer to the problems of renters and landlords than anyone in Washington, local and state governments have a much better handle on the local rental housing situation. But now, the federal government doesn’t believe that landlords should be compensated for owning rental property. They’re “gouging” renters. This is after more than two years of preventing landlords from evicting renters for non-payment of rent. And in a period of rapidly rising inflation, landlords are being accused of “profiteering” at the expense of renters. It’s a ridiculous charge given that 98 percent of all rental property owners, or 80 percent of all rental properties, are owned by small business entrepreneurs who own five units or fewer, according to a study in Business Wire. These rules, and any legislation supported by AOC, would destroy the rental housing market and make it much harder to find affordable housing. What small business owner wants to be beholden to Washington for their business? Rental housing will disappear — perhaps the intended purpose of the new rules. The narrative of corporate greed being responsible for rent increases is a far easier sell than small businesses struggling to keep their properties during an inflationary economy that Warren, AOC, and Biden are mostly responsible for. https://www.boundingintosports.com/2023/01/aaron-rodgers-blasts-woke-culture-and-torches-sports-media-for-being-sponsored-by-pfizer/ Aaron Rodgers Blasts “Woke Culture” And Torches Sports Media For Being Sponsored By Pfizer Rodgers comments on woke culture came after he was questioned about a number of sports media outlets claiming he will be traded in the offseason and that he is only playing in the NFL to just win another MVP. Aaron Rodgers Responds To Sports Media Who Criticised Him "Wanting Another MVP" | Pat McAfee Show Play 0:00-3:20

Slovakia hosts the Visegrád Group's V4 summit, Somalia launches a TV channel aimed at countering al-Shabaab propaganda and Taiwan heads to the polls in local elections. Plus: today's papers and Andrew Mueller's irreverent round-up of the week's news.

Bill is joined again by Caleb Weiss, long-time contributor to Long War Journal and friend of the show. They discuss why al Qaeda hasn't (at least not publicly) named a successor to Zawahiri, as well as several updates on Shabaab.

At least 20 people were reportedly killed after al-Shabaab militants took hostages in Mogadishu. Also: a new Zulu king is crowned, and could chewing slowly be the reason for the evolution of humans?

Somali security forces are battling to regain control of a hotel in Mogadishu stormed on Friday by the Islamist militants, al-Shabab. Attackers detonated at least two explosives outside the hotel before entering it on Friday evening. At least 12 people have been killed in the attack by al-Shabab, though some local media reported that the death toll could be higher. Also in the programme: Mexico's former Attorney General has been detained over the disappearance of 43 students in 2014 and dozens of arrest warrants issued for the military and police; and Chad's President brings together hundreds of representatives for a national dialogue ahead of elections, though an opposition leader tells us why he's staying away. (Somali security officers drive past a section of Hotel Hayat, the scene of an al-Shabaab militant attack in Mogadishu, Somalia August 20, Credit: Feisal Omar/Reuters)

Scott interviews Bonnie Kristian about her new book and an article she wrote recently on America's war in Somalia. After the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan last summer, Somalia is now America's longest war. Though Trump temporarily shifted it to an air war while in office, Biden has ordered the troops back in. Scott and Kristian discuss the state of the conflict and examine the war's place in the Global War on Terror.  Discussed on the show: Untrustworthy by Bonnie Kristian “I Didn't Want It to Be True, but the Medium Really Is the Message” (New York Times) Technopoly by Niel Postman “Biden Sends U.S. Troops Back to Somalia” (The American Conservative) “Afghanistan Did Not Have to Turn Out This Way” (The Atlantic) “The Taliban's Dangerous Collision Course With the West” (NYT Magazine) “Somalia appoints al Shabaab co-founder as religion minister” (Reuters) Veep (IMDb) “Yemeni Civil War Unleashes a Plague of Locusts” (Antiwar.com) Bonnie Kristian is a fellow at Defense Priorities, and a regular contributor at The American Conservative. Her writing has appeared at TIME, CNN, Politico, The American Conservative, and many others. Follow her at her website or on Twitter @bonniekristian. This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State and Why The Vietnam War?, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and Thc Hemp Spot. Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjYu5tZiG. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Download Episode. Scott interviews Bonnie Kristian about her new book and an article she wrote recently on America's war in Somalia. After the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan last summer, Somalia is now America's longest war. Though Trump temporarily shifted it to an air war while in office, Biden has ordered the troops back in. Scott and Kristian discuss the state of the conflict and examine the war's place in the Global War on Terror.  Discussed on the show: Untrustworthy by Bonnie Kristian “I Didn't Want It to Be True, but the Medium Really Is the Message” (New York Times) Technopoly by Niel Postman “Biden Sends U.S. Troops Back to Somalia” (The American Conservative) “Afghanistan Did Not Have to Turn Out This Way” (The Atlantic) “The Taliban's Dangerous Collision Course With the West” (NYT Magazine) “Somalia appoints al Shabaab co-founder as religion minister” (Reuters) Veep (IMDb) “Yemeni Civil War Unleashes a Plague of Locusts” (Antiwar.com) Bonnie Kristian is a fellow at Defense Priorities, and a regular contributor at The American Conservative. Her writing has appeared at TIME, CNN, Politico, The American Conservative, and many others. Follow her at her website or on Twitter @bonniekristian. This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State and Why The Vietnam War?, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and Thc Hemp Spot. Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjYu5tZiG.

Photo: #Somalia. AlQaeda: El Shabaab grows. Bill Roggio, FDD https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2022/06/ep-72-somalias-controversial-ex-nisa-chief.php

President Biden has authorized the deployment of hundreds of American Special Operations forces to Somalia to assist the Somali government in its fight against al-Shabaab.  According to the New York Times President Biden has also authorized a Pentagon plan to step up airstrikes against al-Shabaab leadership.  This increased US military engagement in Somalia comes at a time of transition in Somalia. After years of political wrangling, Somalia's Parliament has elected a new President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who took office on May 15th. Meanwhile, the African Union's about 20,000 strong peacekeeping force in Somalia is beginning a process of winding down.  My guest today, Harun Maruf, is a veteran journalist and editor at VOA Somali Service. I kick off by asking him how news of increased US military involvement in Somalia is being received in Mogadishu and beyond. We then have an extended conversation about the security situation in Somalia today. 

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Christine "Christy" Abizaid, director of the National Counterterrorism Center within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Abizaid explains how the center's mission has evolved in the two decades following 9/11 and where its current areas of focus are. She details the existing external attack capabilities of terror networks including ISIS, al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab and explains how their ideologies have spread worldwide. Abizaid also offers her perspective on the threat within the United States of domestic violent extremists, explaining how NCTC supports domestic law enforcement agencies in tracking and disrupting potential attacks. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Photo: #AfterAfghanistan:   Shabaab is winning.  @BillRoggio @LongWarJournal.  Husain Haqqani @husainhaqqani, former Pakistani Ambassador to the United States; Director, South & Central Asia,  Hudson Institute  https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2022/05/shabaab-says-it-killed-scores-of-burundian-troops-in-somalia.php

Photo:  These pages are from Timbuktu Manuscripts written in Sudani script (a form of Arabic) from the Mali Empire showing established knowledge of astronomy and mathematics. Today there are close to a million of these manuscripts found in Timbuktu alone. [There were. The jihadists and their ilk have burned a staggering number of some of the greatest manuscripts of human history, from their repository in Timbuktu, one of the greatest cradles of human intellectual and spiritual exploration on Earth.] #Somalia: Mali: Al Qaeda's al Shabaab and ISIS in the Sahel.  Husain Haqqani @husainhaqqani, former Pakistani Ambassador to the United States; Hudson Institute. Bill Roggio @FDD RV. https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2022/03/generation-jihad-ep-67-meanwhile-in-africa.php

Host Bill Roggio is joined by two Long War Journal regulars, Caleb Weiss and Andrew Tobin, to give listeners an update on what's happening on the ground in Africa from the Sahel — including that more than 400 Malians have been slaughtered in under one month — to "elections" and Shabaab attacks in Somalia.