You’re about to withstand a barrage of lies about the war that broke out today in Israel.
Some of those lies will be explicit. Some of them will be lies of omission. Others will be lies of obfuscation. Or lies of minimization. Lies told by people who are simply too afraid to look at such an ugly, barbarous reality. And lies told by people whose true beliefs are too ugly to quite say aloud. Turn on cable news and you can hear some of them right now.
So let’s get some facts straight.
Israel was attacked last night. It was attacked by Hamas terrorists who streamed over the border from Gaza. They came on foot and on motorbikes. They came by truck and by car and by paraglider. They came to Israel to murder and maim and mutilate anyone they could find. And that is what they did.
It is impossible to know the numbers of the dead or the missing or the injured.
The official numbers as of this writing: 300 Israelis dead; 1,590 wounded. And dozens—maybe many more—taken hostage into Gaza. They include women, elders, and children.
But none of those words or numbers capture the evil of what unfolded today.
Young festival-goers running for their lives. Teenage girls dragged by their hair by Hamas men. An old woman forced to pose with a Hamas rifle. A mother—a hostage—cradling two redheaded babies in her arms.
I have friends in Israel. Each one of them has a story of someone they know who is missing. Or injured. Or killed. This was not a tit-for-tat, as you’ll see the mainstream media try to spin it. This was not a justifiable military response, or just another day in a cycle of violence. This was the slaughter of innocent civilians.
New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America today announced a protest in honor of the attacks. It’s called All Out for Palestine: “In solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to resist 75 years of occupation and apartheid.” The anti-Zionist group IfNotNow explained the attacks as Israel’s fault and said of the dead Jews: “Their blood is on the hands of the Israeli government.”
You will see a lot like this in the coming days. Ancient lies told in new language whose end is always, strangely, the same: a justification for genocide.
Think about 9/11 and the kind of shock and terror we felt. That is what Israelis feel today. That is the level of devastation Israel is now experiencing.
We are left with so many questions:
How did this happen?
Who is to blame for this catastrophic security failure?
How will Israel respond? How will Israel save the hostages in Gaza?
What was the extent of Iran’s involvement in this sophisticated operation?
Will this change the Biden administration’s policy toward the Islamic Republic?
And so many more.
Those are the questions that require answers. But for today, while others offer mealy-mouthed pablum, we want to do something simple: to tell the truth—plainly—about a catastrophic day.
We’ll have much more reporting for you in the coming days. We’re going to work hard to give you the kind of independent, honest journalism you expect from The Free Press.
Herewith, three essays from a nation at war. The first, by Noah Pollak, explains why today was Israel’s 9/11—and urges us not to avert our eyes from evil. The second, by 20-year-old Arad Fruchter, is a first-person account of his encounter with Hamas terrorists in Israel’s southern desert. The third, by Rabbi Daniel Gordis, tells of a day that began with joyous singing at synagogue and ended with his son being called up to war. And on Honestly: a conversation with historian and former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren.
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No comments on While we slept
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The number one song today in 1955 …
… not to be confused with …
… or …
The number one British song (which is not from Britain) today in 1964:
Today in 1971, John Lennon released his “Imagine” album:
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Today in 1975, one of the stranger episodes in rock music history ended when John Lennon got permanent resident status, his “green card.” The federal government, at the direction of Richard Nixon, tried to deport Lennon because of his 1968 British arrest for possession of marijuana.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that trying to deport Lennon on the basis of an arrest was “contrary to U.S. ideas of due process and was invalid as a means of banishing the former Beatle from America.”
The number one British single today in 1978 came from that day’s number one album:
The number one album today in 1989 was Tears for Fears’ “Seeds of Love”:
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Ben Shapiro, with a musical assist:
A debate has arisen on the Right about the value of marriage. There are people on the so-called “red-pilled” Right who have now suggested that marriage is bad for men, that men should not get married.
The case they’re making is not the liberal feminist case that basically men are useless and terrible, that a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. The case they are making is that the stakes of marriage have been changed by no-fault divorce, custody arrangements, child support payments, spousal support, and the like.
I agree with the critique of all of those policies. I think no-fault divorce is a disaster area. I think the child custody arrangements that basically always go to the mom no matter what are a serious problem.
But the “red-pilled” Right have taken it one step further. They’re telling young men you should not get married. It’s too dangerous to get married. Don’t get married.
That’s foolish.
Pearl Davis is an anti-feminist. She states, “A man has no way to have children and those kids be actually his. They’re always hers because the courts give the women custody 90% of the time. And rich men are really the only ones that have the money to fight it and the time.”
She then criticizes people who agree the laws should be changed and women face repercussions of their own for marital failures — but also says men should find a girl who prays and then get married.
“I had this thought, too, until I found a Muslim girl that did the same thing,” she said. “I found a Christian girl that did the same thing; I found a Catholic girl. It’s happening all over, whether you want to believe it or not, it is happening. I don’t care about your religion. I don’t care about your church. This happens everywhere.”
The argument she’s making against all these marital policies is correct. Nobody is disregarding the pain of men who have been wrongfully victimized under these circumstances, where the incentive structure is completely stacked against them. That is true.
But the benefits of marriage are still unbelievable. It does matter who you marry. To pretend there is no difference in the kind of person you marry is not true. You can mitigate the risk of divorce; the person who you marry is the chief mitigation.
Throwing the baby out with the bathwater is not the solution. Instead, revise the system of laws but also urge men to find a spouse and get married to her.
If that requires shifting away from the state-mandated law and toward a contract arrangement, fine; I agree with many of the critiques of current marriage law. The problem is when you say that the solution for men is to not get married; you’ve created a second-order effect where unmarried men become actual menaces.
The reality is that men channel their aggressive drives toward building or they channel it toward destroying. A system in which women are unmarried and men are unmarried is what the Left wants. If you acquiesce in that, you end up destroying the very fundamental basis of society that allows for the growing and building of a society beyond leftist principles.
Marriage is a risk. Of course it is. And that risk is disproportionately borne by men at this point. That is also true. But is the reward worth the risk?
The answer in a huge majority of circumstances where both people are committed and have shared values is yes.
With the red pill movement, the diagnosis is often correct and the solution is wrong.
It turns out that there is actually a formula to a successful marriage. It includes being conservative, religious, and highly educated. Seventy-seven percent of college-educated conservative parents are still in their first marriage.
In the community where I live — an Orthodox Jewish community — there are very low divorce rates. Why? Because everyone is religiously committed, because everybody goes into marriage believing it is a sacred bond that actually matters, and because people don’t date for sex. People actually date looking forward to the day when they will have kids together.
Marriage is a risk. But is it a coin flip?
No. It’s a decision you have to make: What kind of person do you wish to date? What kind of relationship do you wish to build? How seriously do you take that commitment in the first place?
Do the laws need to change?
Absolutely.
Should men get married?
Absolutely.
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You had better get on board for the number one song today in 1970:
The number one song today in 1973:
Britain’s number one album tonight in 1984 was David Bowie’s “Tonight”:
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The number one album today in 2002 was “Elvis Presley’s Number One Hits,” despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that Presley had been dead for 25 years:
Strangely, “Elvis Presley’s Number One Hits” didn’t include this number one hit:
Just two birthdays of note, and they were on the same day: Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon …
… was born the same day as David Hidalgo of Los Lobos:
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Sometimes, in wars and revolutions, fundamental change arrives with a bang. More often, it creeps up on you. That is the way with what we are calling “homeland economics”, a protectionist, high-subsidy, intervention-heavy ideology administered by an ambitious state. Fragile supply chains, growing threats to national security, the energy transition and the cost-of-living crisis have each demanded action by governments—and for good reason. But when you lump them all together, it becomes clear just how systematically the presumption of open markets and limited government has been left in the dust.
For this newspaper, this is an alarming trend. We were founded in 1843 to campaign for, among other things, free trade and a modest role for government. Today these classical liberal values are not only unpopular, they are increasingly absent from political debate. Less than eight years ago President Barack Obama was trying to sign America up to a giant Pacific trade pact. Today if you argue for free trade in Washington, you will be scoffed at as hopelessly naive. In the emerging world, you will be painted as a neocolonial relic from the era when the West knew best.
Our special report this week argues that homeland economics will ultimately prove to be a disappointment. It misdiagnoses what has gone wrong, it overburdens the state with unmeetable responsibilities and it will botch a period of rapid social and technological change. The good news is that eventually it will bring about its own demise.
Central to the new regime is the idea that protectionism is the way to cope with the buffeting of open markets. China’s success convinced working-class Westerners that they had a lot to lose from the free movement of goods across borders. The covid-19 pandemic left elites thinking that global supply chains had to be “derisked”, often by moving production closer to home. China’s rise under “state capitalism”, with its disregard for rules-based trade and challenge to American power, was seized on in rich and emerging economies as a justification for intervention.
This protectionism goes along with extra government spending. Industry is gobbling up subsidies to boost the energy transition and guarantee the supply of strategic goods. Vast handouts to households during the pandemic have raised expectations of the state as a bulwark against life’s misfortunes. The Spanish and Italian governments are even bailing out borrowers who cannot afford the rising cost of mortgages.
And, inevitably, state handouts go along with extra regulation. Antitrust has become activist. Regulators are eyeing nascent markets, from cloud gaming to artificial intelligence. Because carbon prices are still too low, governments end up micro-managing the energy transition by decree.
This mix of protection, spending and regulation comes at a heavy cost. For a start, it is a misdiagnosis. The pooling of risks is indeed an essential function of governments. But not all risks: for markets to work, actions must have consequences.
In contrast to the accepted view, covid and the Ukraine war have shown that markets deal with shocks better than planners do. Globalised trade coped with huge swings in consumer demand: throughput at America’s ports in 2021 was 11% higher than in 2019. In 2022 Germany’s economy repeated the trick, suffering no calamity as it switched rapidly from Russian gas to other sources of energy. By contrast, state-dominated markets like the supply of shells for Ukraine are still struggling. Just like the old complaints about trade with China—which has boosted Americans’ real incomes—gripes about globalisation’s supposed fragility have built a cathedral of fear over a grain of truth.
Another flaw in homeland economics is to overburden the state. Governments are losing all restraint just when they need to curtail welfare spending. Ageing populations weigh down budgets with extra bills for pensions and health care. Rising interest rates make everything worse. After a bond-market crisis in 2022, Britain’s right-wing government is raising taxes, as a share of gdp, by more than in any parliamentary term in the country’s history. As yields rise on long-dated bonds, indebted Italy looks wobbly again. America’s rising debt-service bill will probably match its all-time high before the end of the decade—testimony to the fiscal fragility of the new era.
The least visible, but potentially most costly flaw is that homeland economics is a blunt instrument in a time of rapid change. The energy and ai transitions are too big for any government to plan. Nobody knows the cheapest ways to decarbonise or the best uses of new technology. Ideas need to be tested and channelled by markets, not governed by checklists from the centre. Excessive regulation will inhibit innovation and, by raising costs, make change slower and more painful.
Despite its flaws, homeland economics will be tough to restrain. People enjoy spending other people’s money. As government budgets get bigger, the special interests that feed on them will grow in size and influence. It is harder to withdraw protection and handouts than to grant them—particularly with more elderly voters, who have less of a stake in economic growth. Anyone doe-eyed about the arc of history bending towards progress should remember that a century ago Argentina was about as rich as Switzerland.
Yet disillusionment will eventually set in. That may be because fiscal extravagance catches up with indebted governments. Perhaps the rent-seekers’ greed will become too hard to conceal. Or a stagnating, repressive China may no longer hold out the promise of state-directed prosperity.
When change comes, it can be surprisingly swift—in democracies, at least. In the 1970s the tide turned in favour of free markets almost as fast as it has turned against them today, leading to the election of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. The task for classical liberals is to prepare for that moment by defining a new consensus that adapts their ideas to a more dangerous, interconnected and fractious world. That will not be easy, especially in the face of the rivalry between America and China. But it has been done in the past. And think of the prize.
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The number one song today in 1959 …
… came from a German opera:
The number one British song today in 1961:
The number one British song today in 1974 came from the movie “The Exorcist”:
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The number one U.S. album today in 1974 was a collection of previous Beach Boys hits, “Endless Summer”:
The number one song today in 1991:
Birthdays begin with Carlos Mastrangelo, one of Dion’s Belmonts:
Richard Street of The Temptations …
… was born one year before Milwaukee’s own Steve Miller:
Brian Connolly of Sweet:
Brian Johnson of AC/DC:
Harold Faltermeyer:
Lee Thompson of Madness:
Dave Dederer of Presidents of the United States (though none of the band’s members have ever been president):
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The Wall Street Journal:
A band of eight Republicans succeeded in ousting Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker on Tuesday, and we trust they’re happy. They now have the chaos they wanted, though it isn’t clear what else they hope to achieve. Their clever plan seems to be to cut off their own heads.
Mr. McCarthy lost his job, but he rose in our esteem in recent days by the way he has handled this threatened coup. He put the country first on Saturday in refusing to let the plotters shut down the government for no good purpose. Then on Tuesday he refused to ask Democrats for a power-sharing deal in return for votes to rescue his Speakership. He put his party above his job, and his reward is that he is the first Speaker ousted in history. The vote was 216-210.
In retrospect the die may have been cast at the start of this Congress when Mr. McCarthy conceded to a rule that any single Member could offer a motion to vacate his chair. He may have had no choice to win the job, and he did so assuming at least some goodwill among his critics. The reality is that they were always lying in wait to strike.
We refer to Reps. Matt Gaetz, Nancy Mace, Eli Crane, Andy Biggs, Matt Rosendale, Bob Good, Tim Burchett and Ken Buck. They united with Democrats to topple a Republican Speaker without a plan, a replacement, or even a policy goal in mind. Four percent of the Republican conference trumped the 96% who supported the Speaker.
Mr. Biggs argued on the floor that the House hadn’t passed the 12 annual spending bills on time, but that’s because of demands from Members like him. He and Mr. Gaetz offered mainly a list of grievances and supposedly failed promises that had no chance of being realized this Congress. Their real motive looks to be spite, personal and political, and the result is to sow chaos in their own ranks.
Democrats decided not to assist Mr. McCarthy, and no doubt they are enjoying the Republican turmoil. Their decision may have been made when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on the weekend that she would vote to oust Mr. McCarthy. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries would have jeopardized his own leadership if he had bucked the Democratic left.
But Democrats may come to miss the former Speaker if the chaos lasts for some time and leads to government shutdowns or failure to pass aid to Ukraine. The next Speaker might be weaker than Mr. McCarthy and even less willing to say no to the rejectionists.
Mr. McCarthy accomplished more than he gets credit for during his short tenure as Speaker. He negotiated a debt-ceiling deal that put a cap on domestic discretionary spending and clawed back some unspent pandemic money. He created the special China committee that is building a bipartisan consensus on how to defend Taiwan and respond to the Communist Party’s ambitions. He also moved to restore some bipartisan comity to the Intelligence Committee after Adam Schiff’s partisan manipulation.
The ouster captures the degraded state of the Republican Party in this era of rage. Members in safe seats can fuel their own fund-raising and careers by claiming to “fight” against all and sundry without doing the hard work to accomplish what they claim to be fighting for. Mr. Gaetz is the prototype of this modern performance artist, as he raises money for a potential run for Florida Governor.
As we went to press, the path forward for the House wasn’t clear. North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry becomes Speaker Pro Tem, per a list Mr. McCarthy had submitted to the House clerk. But the search for a permanent Speaker could be long and chaotic.
Mr. McCarthy said Tuesday night in classy remarks that he won’t run again. Other names will surface, but who in the world would want the chair knowing it comes with the constant peril of being ousted? Anyone courted for the position should refuse to accept without a change in House rules so the support of at least 20 Members would be required to vacate the Speaker’s chair. The House majority can’t be held hostage to the Jacobins on either side of the aisle.
Meanwhile, the House is essentially frozen. The putative GOP majority is weaker, and its ability to gain any policy victories has been undermined. Oversight of the Biden Administration will slow or stop. Republicans in swing districts who are vulnerable in 2024 will be especially wary of trusting the Gaetz faction, and regaining any unity of purpose will be that much harder. The crazy left and right are cheering, but no one else is.
U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R–Prairie du Chien):
Eight allegedly conservative members of the Republican Party just voted with Adam Schiff, AOC, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Pramila Jayapal, Eric Swalwell, and every other member of the Democrat Party to remove the Speaker of the House.
The result of today’s actions will move the House— the only body that stands in the way of the Biden Administration and Schumer’s Senate— to the left.
Effectively, their vote was a vote to defund our military, keep the southern border open, let China rise, and further increase our national debt, which currently sits at $33 trillion.
They did this for fundraising purposes. That is simply un-American.”
So… Matt Gaetz (R-FL1) got his wish to be the center of the political universe yesterday. The thing is, he sees himself as a pariah while the rest of us just see him as a petulant child.
Don’t get me wrong…there is nothing wrong with standing up for what you believe in. This entire Substack is full of my opinions and beliefs. However, you have to be a little strategic about it. Take a little advice from Kenny Rodgers…know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em.
As I have said in several of these rants, you can’t expect to agree with anyone 100% of the time. Sometimes you have to be the bigger person and realize that someone who is pulling in the same direction as you 60% of the time is much better than someone who pulls in your direction 0% of the time. This is the mistake that Gaetz is making.
Everyone has their own opinion of Kevin McCarthy (R-CA20) and that is your right. I remember that not too long ago he was considered one of the next great conservative leaders in the GOP. However, ideological purity and an Overton Window the size of a thimble has led to him (and quite a few others) becoming persona non grata by a certain segment of the GOP and their voters.
Sure, you can point to some GOP representatives in government and see some movement towards the left, but most (if not all) of them are still to the right of the political spectrum. It’s not ideal, but I’d rather have a bunch of moderates that I can occasionally agree with than a bunch of hard line liberals whom I will NEVER agree with.
The biggest rub about this whole temper tantrum? Best case scenario is some other GOP congressman he doesn’t like gets elected (McCarthy announced he won’t run again) to the office of Speaker. Gaetz and his crew of malcontents showed back in January that they didn’t have the support to get anyone else elected Speaker. They will have even less support now. That leaves some random GOP’er or…Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY8). Sure, having Jefferies as Speaker is not likely, but at this rate, if we want a new Speaker before the next election, it will take Democrats voting for a Republican. That will not come cheap. Hopefully they will just demand legislative concessions and not the Speakership.
I hope it was fun Representative Gaetz. With one little tantrum, you managed to give more power to the minority party. I hope somebody primaries you and wipes the floor with you.
The Monkeys Flinging Poo Caucus hit their target last night, taking out Kevin McCarthy, who declared he will not run again for Speaker of the House. America got splattered in the crossfire of monkeys flinging poo and dogs catching cars.
Now what?
There is no real plan to move forward at this time while the clock ticks on the continuing resolution. House Republicans, who oppose Ukraine funding, are about to choke on it. Why? The moderate Republicans sucked it up and put up with a deal that put House Freedom Caucus conservatives on the Rules Committee and Appropriations Committee. They went along with a House Freedom Caucus measure to cut the government by eight percent.
The House moderate Republicans have zero incentive to stick with the Freedom Caucus now on anything, the latter of which is divided anyway — in fact more divided that the moderates are on some big issues right now. The moderates want to fund Ukraine and have way more than 218 votes. Meanwhile, there is no Speaker to negotiate a spending package with the Senate, so the Senate hawks are in control of the process. McCarthy stripped Ukraine funding to satisfy Gaetz. Gaetz stripped McCarthy of power in return. Payback is going to be hell. But at least the House GOP could get border funding with it.
So, I expect to be very happy when it comes to funding Ukraine and the border. You guys who oppose the Ukraine funding are about to have it jammed down your throat thanks to Gaetz ousting McCarthy without a backup Speaker in the wings to challenge a pro-Ukraine Senate and House majority.
The House GOP moderates, who outnumber the eight who ended McCarthy, can, among other options, do a discharge petition with the Democrats to force through any funding on Ukraine they want now. They are off the chains.
They can also force the House GOP Conference to change the rules package McCarthy agreed to to get conservative votes. It was that package of rules that put House Freedom Caucus members on the Rules and Appropriations Committees.
Just think about this for one minute. Had Gaetz waited till the final continuing resolution to take shape in about thirty five days, he could have used the leverage to push for more. He could have been joined in a larger revolt of House conservatives with him. But now? At this time? He all but ensures the chaos plays against the conservative hand. McCarthy was always going to get the boot. But booting him now only helps the big spenders.
You guys who wanted to oust McCarthy because you felt he wasn’t keeping his end of the deal, will now watch a new deal be constructed and new deals grow government. That’s exactly what Gaetz has ensured. The moderate Republicans were willing to work with the conservatives in exchange for McCarthy as Speaker and reasonable concessions. The poo flingers just covered the Conference in feces, so it is game on for everyone else.
To put this more bluntly conservatives: bend over and get ready. Matt Gaetz just ensured a miserable next year for conservatives in the House. And yes, he, not McCarthy, did that.
As for McCarthy, his was also a retelling of the Damnation of Faust. He cut every deal, made every bargain, and sold his soul to get his power. He was always destined to end up tossed out. The timing, right now, is what sets back conservatives the hardest. It is tough to do anything but root for injuries in a fight between McCarthy and Gaetz. But I’m enough of a realist to know what it means to toss McCarthy with forty-two days to go before a government shutdown and no ready plan to replace him.
Yet again, a small band of Republicans decided to fire before aiming, sacrificing leverage for the big continuing resolution fight.
Meanwhile, in America, the cost of living is still up. Interest rates are through the roof. The 10 year bond yield is approaching five percent. The markets are starting to worry about the debt and government instability. Gas prices are soaring. Crime is destabilizing communities. House Republicans have gone home till next week. And the Speaker’s Chair is vacant.
Chaos is not leadership. It is also not a strategy.
The reality is the Speaker’s ouster matters little today to most Americans and affects them even less. But it will matter tremendously in just over thirty days when the nation’s bills come due, and funding must be approved to keep the lights on. And, truth be told, conservatives will most likely not get a better deal than they had already because they are outnumbered and, with the clock ticking on a shutdown, deals will be made to avoid a crisis most likely without a rule to vacate the chair that could be deployed in that fight. Those deals will make Matt Gaetz’s grievances look even more petty. As I was saying, bend over conservatives, and prepare for the worst. Matt Gaetz squandered conservatives’ leverage now, when a larger rebellion of more serious conservatives could have shaped the final spending package over the next month.
Hopefully, at least, we can get some border security in the fall out.
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Today in 1957, the sixth annual New Music Express poll named Elvis Presley the second most popular singer in Great Britain behind … Pat Boone. That seems as unlikely as, say, Boone’s recording a heavy metal album.
The number one British song today in 1962, coming to you via satellite:
Britain’s number one album today in 1969 was the Beatles’ “Abbey Road”:
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We begin with this unusual event: Today in 1978, the members of Aerosmith bailed out 30 of their fans who were arrested at their concert in Fort Wayne, Ind., for smoking marijuana:
Britain’s number one single today in 1987:
Today in 1992 on NBC-TV’s “Saturday Night Live,” Sinead O’Connor torpedoed her own career:
Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 