Conscript 18-year-olds, Obama-era Envoy to NATO Tells Kiev
Kiev should send 18-year-olds to fight Russia to increase the likelihood of victory, former US ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder has argued.
Earlier this year, Ukraine lowered the draft threshold from 27 to 25 years as part of a major overhaul of the military service system, aimed at boosting mobilization rates.
“This is a war being fought by 40-year-olds,” Daalder told Euronews on the sidelines of last week’s NATO summit in the US. “No other war in history has been fought by 40-year-olds.”
“You need to get 18-year-olds, and you need to get 20-year-olds, and you need to get 21-year-olds, which is what every army in the rest of the world relies on,” he added.
Both Russia and Ukraine have a system of mandatory conscription of young adult males, but 18-years-olds are not deployed to the frontline by either country. Moscow has said it fully relies on contracted volunteers rather than mobilized reservists in the conflict with its NATO-backed neighbor, with roughly 1,000 people recruited per day, according to senior Russian officials.
Read more Ukrainian doctors offering leg-breaking services – media
Daalder served as the US ambassador under President Barack Obama. He currently heads the Chicago Council of Global Affairs, a prominent corporate-funded think tank known for a hawkish foreign policy.
Kiev has reformed its military since suffering significant casualties during last year’s failed attempt to push back Russian forces using Western-donated weapons. Draft avoidance emerged as a major problem, with many Ukrainian men risking their lives trying to cross the western border illegally.
Weeks before Vladimir Zelensky signed into law the lowering of the draft age, US Senator Lindsey Graham urged him to do so during a trip to Kiev. He said: “I would hope that those eligible to serve in the Ukrainian military would join. I can’t believe it’s at 27. You’re in a fight for your life, so you should be serving – not at 25 or 27.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Ukrainian citizens to embrace the new rules, after they took effect in May.
“Your recent mobilization was a difficult decision, but a necessary one,” he said in a speech at a prestigious Ukrainian university. Joining the military will “allow you to harden your defenses, to build more units, to take the fight to Russian aggressors.”
READ MORE: Orphans used as decoys in Ukrainian draft-dodge scheme – ombudsman
Ukrainian lawmaker Roman Lozinsky said last month that a further reduction of the draft age was possible “if we are still fighting for our existence.” His political party Golos is widely considered to be aligned with US interests in the country.
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Candace Owens Tells Former CNN Anchor Don Lemon his Homosexual ‘Marriage’ is a ‘Sin’
(LifeSiteNews) — Conservative commentator and Catholic convert Candace Owens told former CNN anchor Don Lemon in a recent interview that his homosexual so-called “marriage” is not real and is a “sin.”
When prompted by Lemon to follow up on her thoughts, Owens said, “You are in a sinful relationship. I actually don’t believe marriage can be between two men,” as shown in an excerpt from the interview posted by Lemon to X on Thursday.
“Well, that’s certainly an opinion,” captioned Lemon, who was fired from CNN following reports that he threatened a co-worker and disrespected other colleagues.
“The Bible is not an opinion,” Owens responded in a repost of the clip on X.
The Bible is not an opinion. https://t.co/1W5YYe4ZtU
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) July 11, 2024
Many X users affirmed their support of Owens’ biblical view on homosexual “marriage,” including actor Kevin Sorbo, who responded to Lemon’s post, “She’s right.”
Another highly “liked” comment affirmed the same, stating, “From a biblical worldview perspective homosexual relationships are a sin.”
In the New Testament, St. Paul makes clear the sinfulness of homosexuality:
“For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man… Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error.” (Romans 1:22-27)
The Catholic Church, which Owens recently joined in the footsteps of her husband, George Farmer, affirms that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law” and that the homosexual inclination is “objectively disordered.”
During her Thursday Candace show, Owens showed segments from other parts of her interview with Lemon, suggesting that he attempted to goad her into calling him a “faggot.” When she complained that “we’ve allowed the English language to be maneuvered by perverts,” using the word “faggot” as an example, Lemon asked her if she thinks “it’s ok to call people a faggot to their face.”
“I’m a 35 year old woman, I don’t just go around calling people a faggot. I’m not 18 years old. I’m not going around calling people names period. I wouldn’t go up to a fat person and call them names. That’s just an absurd thing to be going around calling people names because I don’t like them. So the answer is no, I would not,” replied Owens.
Lemon, who “married” another man in April 2024, has taken radically leftist and even authoritarian stances throughout his career. He called for medical apartheid during the COVID outbreak when he stated that the people who did not receive COVID shots should be denied essential services, including the ability to go to the supermarket. He also suggested at the time that hospitals should only treat the jabbed.
The former CNN anchor was fired from the establishment media outlet after a series of complaints from colleagues. One concerned colleague told management about an anonymous text she received which warned, “Now you’ve crossed the line, and you’re going to pay for it.” CNN traced the text back to Lemon, according to sources, Variety reported.
Emergency Alert: Deep State Could Attack The RNC And Assassinate Trump By Any Means
WATCH: Real-time Video Comparison of Trump Speech and Desperate Attempts To Warn Secret Service and Police
A direct frame-by-frame comparison video of Trump’s speech on Saturday and the frantic attempts of onlookers to warn police and Secret Service about the presence of a gunman on a nearby roof, has been posted on Twitter.
Filmmaker Nathan Livingstone posted the video on his Twitter account, MilkBarTV.
Two agonising minutes pass before the gunman opens fire on the former president.
From the opening frames of the video comparison, bystanders can be seen pointing at the location of Thomas Matthew Crooks.
“Look, they’re all pointing,” a man can be heard saying in the first ten seconds of the video.
“Someone’s up on the roof: look! There he is, right there. He’s laying down.”
? Watch the real time assassination attempt on Trump from different angles. With countdown from footage of people warning authorities about the shooter to Trump being whisked away. pic.twitter.com/iJTbRNlCEw
— MilkBarTV (@TheMilkBarTV) July 15, 2024
The video comparison makes clear, in undeniable fashion, the scale of the security failure that led to Donald Trump escaping death by millimeters on Saturday, and left one man dead and two seriously wounded.
Further damaging revelations about police behavior in the minutes before the attack have emerged. According to the Associated Press, a police officer climbed onto the roof where Thomas Matthew Crooks was laying with his rifle and then retreated when Crooks pointed his gun at him. Crooks then fired on the former president before being killed.
Eyewitnesses have described attempting to warn Secret Service and law enforcement about the presence of a gunman multiple times in the minutes before he opened fire.
One man, a local Trump supporter, told BBC News how he and a group of others desperately tried to alert police and Secret Service to the gunman’s location, only to be ignored.
An FBI spokesman told reporters that “there’s going to be a long investigation” into how Trump was shot.
“We’re still working through the security apparatus that the Secret Service had in place, what potentially happened” the spokesman said at a press conference.
“There’s going to be a long investigation into exactly what took place and how the individual was able to get access to the location, what type of weapon he had—all that is really days, weeks and months of investigation.”
“How was he able to get off four or five shots?” a reporter then asked.
“It is surprising. But again, all the details of that will come out in investigation.”
BREAKING: Biden And Obama Locked In Blackmail War, Says Trump Insider
Country In Collapse: 46,000 Israeli Businesses Have Shut Down Since October 7
Forty-six thousand Israeli businesses have been forced to close due to the ongoing war and its devastating impact on the economy, Hebrew-language newspaper Maariv reported on July 10, describing Israel as a “country in collapse.”
“This is a very high number that encompasses many sectors. About 77 percent of the businesses that have closed since the beginning of the war, roughly 35,000, are small businesses with up to five employees, and are the most vulnerable in the economy,” said Yoel Amir, CEO of CofaceBdi, an Israeli information services and credit risk management firm to Maariv.
(Related: Israel’s DEBT has doubled to nearly $43 billion since declaring war on Gaza.)
The report highlights the most affected industries, with the construction sector and its related ecosystem, including ceramics, air conditioning, aluminum and building materials, experiencing significant damage according to CofaceBdi’s risk ratings.
The trade sector, including services and industries such as fashion, furniture, housewares, entertainment, transport and tourism, has also been severely impacted. The report notes that “there is almost no foreign tourism,” with business damage prevalent across the country, affecting almost every sector.
The agriculture sector has also been hit hard, with the most affected being those that operate to Israel’s north and south, where active combat zones due to threats from Palestinian resistance and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have affected operations. These regions’ instability has further contributed to the economic downturn.
Amir estimates that by the end of 2024, 60,000 Israeli businesses could be shut down.
Hezbollah’s attacks have severely disrupted local business and education in the north, forcing tens of thousands of settlers to evacuate. “Our goal of draining the enemy’s economy has been achieved,” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah stated on July 10.
Additionally, the Yemeni army’s maritime operations have contributed to the economic decline, significantly reducing revenues at key ports like Eilat in the south.
Israeli economy shrinking due to war
In the final months of 2023, Israel’s GDP plummeted by nearly 20 percent. The threat of escalation with Hezbollah raises concerns that any full-scale war with the Lebanese resistance could plunge the economy even deeper into crisis. Recent video warnings from Hezbollah demonstrate their capability to target critical energy infrastructure, including oil refineries and gas tanks.
Data released back in February showed that Israelis sharply curtailed spending, travel and investment at the end of 2023 as Israel’s all-out war on Hamas militants in Gaza took a heavy toll on the economy.
The war halted economic growth, particularly with a massive call-up of reserves and tens of thousands displaced from border towns near Gaza and Lebanon due to constant rocket attacks from Hamas and Hezbollah.
According to an initial estimate of gross domestic product from the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, the $500 billion economy contracted by an annualized rate of 19.4 percent in the fourth quarter from the prior three months. This contraction was double the rate expected in a Reutersconsensus.
Despite the severe impact in the fourth quarter, 2023 as a whole ended with positive growth.
“The contraction of the economy in the fourth quarter of 2023 was directly affected by the outbreak of the Iron Swords War on Oct. 7,” the statistics bureau noted, using the Israeli government’s name for the current Israel-Hamas conflict.
For all of 2023, the economy grew by two percent, compared to 6.5 percent in 2022 but above the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average of 1.7 percent. However, per capita GDP slipped by 0.1 percent last year, compared to an OECD average of 1.2 percent growth.
Until Hamas’ Oct. 7 cross-border attack on southern Israel, the economy was on track for growth of about 3.5 percent in 2023. However, October was particularly tough, with the conflict dampening Israeli moods and their desire to participate in the economy. Movie theaters and other entertainment venues were largely closed, though they have since reopened.
Depending on the length of the conflict and whether it expands to other fronts, the economy is expected to grow by as much as two percent in 2024. The central bank and other experts expect a sharp economic rebound in 2025, based on the view that Israel’s economy is fundamentally sound, led by the high-tech sector, and has shown resilience after prior conflicts.
Emergency Alert: Deep State Could Attack The RNC And Assassinate Trump By Any Means
Tributes Paid to Loving Father and Husband Who Died Protecting His Family at Trump Rally
The family of Corey Comperatore, the man who was killed during the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on Saturday, have paid tribute to him on social media.
Mr Comperatore, aged 50, was at the Trump rally and died protecting his wife and daughter when Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at the former president from a nearby roof.
“He was the best dad a girl could ever ask for,” his daughter, Allyson, wrote on Facebook.
“My sister and I never needed for anything. You call, he would answer, and he would do whatever it is you needed, and if he didn’t know how he would figure out how. He could talk and make friends with anyone, which he was doing all day yesterday and loved every minute of it. He was a man of God, loved Jesus fiercely, and also looked after our church and our members as family.
“The media will not tell you that he died a real-life super hero. They are not going to tell you how quickly he threw my mom and I to the ground. They are not going to tell you that he shielded my body from the bullet that came at us.
“He loved his family. He truly loved us enough to take a real bullet for us. And I want nothing more than to cry on him and tell him thank you. I want nothing more than to wake up and for this to not be reality for me and my family.
“We lost a selfless, loving, husband, father, brother, uncle, son, and friend. And I will never stop thinking about him and mourning over him until the day that I die too. July 13th will forever be a day the changed my life. I will never be the same person I was less than 24 hours ago.
“There are a lot of children out there that say their dad is their hero, but my dad really is mine. I don’t think I would be here today without him.”
Mr Comperatore’s brother also paid tribute to him, saying that died “a hero.”
“My baby brother just turned 50 and had so much life left to experience. Hatred has no limits and love has no bounds. Pray for my sister-in-law, nieces, my mother, sister, me and his nieces and nephews as this feels like a terrible nightmare but we know it is our painful reality.”
A GoFundMe page has now been set up for his family.
BREAKING: Biden And Obama Locked In Blackmail War, Says Trump Insider
7 States Sue Biden Admin for Forcing Health Providers to Perform, Pay for Gender Transitions
(LifeSiteNews) – Seven states along with a group of doctors are filing a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s threats to withhold federal funding from healthcare providers that refuse to perform or cover “transgender” procedures.
In May, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) finalized a rule announced the previous month defining “sex” in federal health law as encompassing “gender identity,” making it discriminatory not to provide so-called “gender-affirming care” to those who identify as other than their actual sex.
Several lawsuits have since arisen between the Biden administration and health workers unwilling to take part in practices they see as wrong and harmful, and Catholic News Agency reported that this week the attorneys general of Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah along with the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) are suing as well.
The plaintiffs contend that the rule is illegal on multiple grounds, including violating physicians’ rights, overriding state authority, and rulemaking without statutory authority.
“Joe Biden is once again exceeding his legal authority in order to force his radical transgender ideology onto the American people,” said Missouri Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who is leading the charge. “I am filing suit because I will not allow out-of-touch federal bureaucrats to force Missouri health care providers into performing experimental and dangerous gender-transition procedures on the taxpayer dime.”
“(D)octors should never be forced to violate their sound medical judgment and perform life-altering and sterilizing interventions on their patients,” ACPeds executive director Dr. Jill Simons added. “Our doctors take an oath to do no harm, but the Biden administration’s rule forces them to violate this oath and perform procedures that are harmful and dangerous to our patients — vulnerable children. What the Biden administration is calling for is wrong and unlawful.”
A significant body of evidence shows that “affirming” gender confusion carries serious harms, especially when done with impressionable children who lack the mental development, emotional maturity, and life experience to consider the long-term ramifications of the decisions being pushed on them, or full knowledge about the long-term effects of life-altering, physically transformative, and often-irreversible surgical and chemical procedures.
Studies find that more than 80% of children experiencing gender dysphoria outgrow it on their own by late adolescence, and that even full “reassignment” surgery often fails to resolve gender-confused individuals’ heightened tendency to engage in self-harm and suicide — and may even exacerbate it, including by reinforcing their confusion and neglecting the actual root causes of their mental strife.
“Gender-affirming” physicians have also been caught on video admitting to more old-fashioned motives for such procedures, as with an 2022 exposé about Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Clinic for Transgender Health, where Dr. Shayne Sebold Taylor said outright that “these surgeries make a lot of money.”
Yet the Biden administration has given uncompromising support to all major aspects of the LGBT agenda, including reopening the military to recruits afflicted with gender dysphoria, promoting gender ideology within the military (including “diversity” and drag events on military bases), holding White House events to “affirm transgender kids,” condemning state laws against underage transitions as “close to sinful,” promoting underage transitions (potentially at taxpayer expense) as a “best practice,” and trying to force federally funded schools to let males into female athletic competitions and restrooms.
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