The “Wrenching Transformation” of Our Suburbs: From Idyllic to Dystopian

The “Wrenching Transformation” of Our Suburbs: From Idyllic to Dystopian

Cherie Zaslawsky

Unlike its bustling neighbor Palo Alto, Menlo Park is a classic bedroom community. Much of the city’s appeal is centered on its “village character” downtown with its assortment of Mom & Pop businesses in mostly one-story buildings.

Santa Cruz Avenue in downtown Menlo Park

Yet Menlo Park’s City Council plans to convert three of our busy downtown parking plazas serving our one-of-a-kind small businesses, into high-density 7 and 8-story subsidized housing projects.

If this housing is built, half of our small businesses would be likely to close during the 3 years of construction alone, and more upon completion when our tranquil small-town ambience morphs into chaos and crowding as a thousand new residents move into the 345 units in apartment towers shoehorned between our one-story buildings.

When locals first learned of this plan, many exclaimed: “That makes no sense!” That sentiment eventually resulted in civic action and a ballot measure slated for the upcoming November election.

And sadly, Menlo Park is not the only city facing such radical urbanization in Silicon Valley and beyond. It’s open season on suburbs throughout the country.

THE ”WHY” QUESTION

What we’re witnessing in the SF Bay Area is not normal city planning or normal growth. Massive high-rise apartment complexes are popping up in our suburbs as if teleported from Chinese ghost cities. As a special incentive for people who might otherwise not wish to live in these prefab monoliths, many units are offered below market rate, as “affordable housing.” And since California is notoriously generous with OPM—other people’s money—even if a family of four earns up to $250,000 per year in certain Bay Area counties, they’ll qualify for a hefty rent reduction.

On the flip side, developers are incentivized by the lure of the “density bonus”: if they make a certain percentage of the units “affordable,” they get to greatly increase the number of units in the development, so everyone wins—everyone except the middle class residents who have long called these cities home.

The concept being sold to the public is that “We need more housing!” even though people are leaving California in droves. In fact, the only increase in population we’re seeing is that of “undocumented immigrants“—aka illegal aliens—whom our local police are diligently protecting from those meanies from ICE who are federally charged with deporting them.

In the meantime, an explosion of inner-city style tenements-in-the-making are metastasizing all over our cherished bedroom communities.

And since our suburbs are largely built out, i.e. lacking much in the way of vacant land, these are classified as “in-fill” developments—literally squeezed into places where the residents’ response is often a heart-wrenching cry of “That will destroy our downtown!” that is ignored by their own city councils.

In truth there is no “housing crisis.” That’s a fabrication by California’s one-party government that used the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to create the infamous Plan Bay Area (PBA) back in 2013.

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The awakening: Why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is about more than borders

The awakening: Why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is about more than borders

DAVID BEN-BASAT

For decades, a simple explanation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict took hold across broad segments of Israel’s Left and Center: at its core, the conflict was territorial. Israel would give up land, the Palestinians would establish a state, and the conflict would gradually come to an end.

The Oslo Accords were built on this premise. Negotiations were conducted on its basis, and far-reaching proposals were offered to the Palestinians. But the events of recent years, above all the October 7 massacre, have shaken the assumption on which this entire approach rested for many Israelis.

The question they are asking today is far more difficult: What if the conflict is not only about where the border will be drawn, but also, and perhaps primarily, about the very legitimacy of a Jewish state existing in this region?

This does not mean that every Palestinian seeks Israel’s destruction, and a complex national conflict should certainly not be reduced to a sweeping generalization about an entire population. But it is no longer possible to ignore the enormous influence that Islamist religious ideology has gained in Palestinian society over recent decades.

Hamas makes no secret of its worldview. For Hamas, the struggle does not end at the 1967 lines, and the land is not merely territory subject to political negotiation. It is part of a much broader religious and historical vision.

This is something the West has struggled to understand. For years, it has tried to interpret the conflict through concepts familiar to it: borders, settlements, sovereignty, national rights, and self-determination.

All of these are indeed important components of the conflict. But they do not explain the intensity of the hatred, the glorification of martyrs, the celebration of armed struggle, or the fact that after Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Gaza did not become a laboratory for building a prosperous state. Instead, it gradually became a military stronghold for Hamas.

In this sense, Oct. 7 was a defining moment.

Israelis who believed that economic improvements, jobs in Israel, and eased civilian restrictions would reduce the motivation for confrontation discovered how dangerous it can be to assume that the other side operates according to the same logic.

The massacre was not directed at settlements in the heart of the West Bank. Be’eri, Kfar Aza, and Nir Oz are inside sovereign Israel. For the terrorists who entered those communities, that, too, was considered “occupation.”

This is the source of the awakening now taking place among parts of Israel’s Left and Center. It may be that the debate over dividing the land concealed a deeper question for years: Is the Palestinian national movement truly capable of accepting, and not merely as a tactical matter, the existence of a Jewish nation state?

Alongside the military campaign, another battle is being fought, one no less sophisticated: the war for global public opinion.The question they are asking today is far more difficult: What if the conflict is not only about where the border will be drawn, but also, and perhaps primarily, about the very legitimacy of a Jewish state existing in this region?

This does not mean that every Palestinian seeks Israel’s destruction, and a complex national conflict should certainly not be reduced to a sweeping generalization about an entire population. But it is no longer possible to ignore the enormous influence that Islamist religious ideology has gained in Palestinian society over recent decades.

Hamas makes no secret of its worldview. For Hamas, the struggle does not end at the 1967 lines, and the land is not merely territory subject to political negotiation. It is part of a much broader religious and historical vision.

This is something the West has struggled to understand. For years, it has tried to interpret the conflict through concepts familiar to it: borders, settlements, sovereignty, national rights, and self-determination.

All of these are indeed important components of the conflict. But they do not explain the intensity of the hatred, the glorification of martyrs, the celebration of armed struggle, or the fact that after Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Gaza did not become a laboratory for building a prosperous state. Instead, it gradually became a military stronghold for Hamas.

Israelis who believed that economic improvements, jobs in Israel, and eased civilian restrictions would reduce the motivation for confrontation discovered how dangerous it can be to assume that the other side operates according to the same logic.

The massacre was not directed at settlements in the heart of the West Bank. Be’eri, Kfar Aza, and Nir Oz are inside sovereign Israel. For the terrorists who entered those communities, that, too, was considered “occupation.”

This is the source of the awakening now taking place among parts of Israel’s Left and Center. It may be that the debate over dividing the land concealed a deeper question for years: Is the Palestinian national movement truly capable of accepting, and not merely as a tactical matter, the existence of a Jewish nation state?

Alongside the military campaign, another battle is being fought, one no less sophisticated: the war for global public opinion.

Exclusive: Israel seizes vast Iran terror axis arsenal with surprising foreign origins

Exclusive: Israel seizes vast Iran terror axis arsenal with surprising foreign origins

Benjamin Weinthal

 Fox News Digital gained rare access to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Tzrifin Base in Central Israel, where a vast number of confiscated rockets, grenades, drones, sniper rifles, automated weapons, anti-tank rocket launchers, mortars and other military firepower used by Hezbollah and Hamas are stored.

The seized arsenal of weapons, ranging in manufacturers from the Islamic Republic of Iran to Russia, China to homegrown producers in Lebanon and Gaza and even a Nazi-era gun, were part of the war machinery used by Hamas and Hezbollah against Israeli civilians and the IDF since Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The IDF said Hezbollah also used weapons against Lebanese civilians. 

Hezbollah and Hamas, members of Iran’s so-called "axis of resistance," have killed over 300 American citizens, according to reports. 

The Jewish state fought a multi-front war against Iran and its proxies at the height of the conflict. The remains of Iranian rockets litter the ground outside the weapons storage facility at Tzrifin for journalists to inspect.

Tehran fired rockets into civilian areas during the war, including large cities such as Tel Aviv and Be’ersheva. Just days after the joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran in late February, the Islamic Republic fired a ballistic missile into Be’ersheva, causing injuries to 19 people.

To the ordinary eye, it is a Herculean challenge to decipher the small Nazi swastika emblem on the German World War II-era MG 34 machine gun seized at a Hezbollah terrorist compound in Lebanon. 

But, for the Israeli military commander of the Captured Equipment Evacuation Unit, Lt. Col. (res.) Idan Sharon-Kettler, it is a run-of-the-mill exercise in weapons identification.

The German MG 34 has the "markings of an eagle carrying a swastika stamped on it," Sharon-Kettler said

Sharon-Kettler told Fox News Digital the Nazi machine gun was used as "propaganda or for morale" of the Iranian regime-backed terrorists in Lebanon. A second Nazi-era assault rifle was confiscated from Hezbollah— the MP 44 (also termed StG 44).

Hamas and Hezbollah, both of whom are designated terrorist organizations by the U.S., employed sophisticated methods to transform vehicles into high-intensity offensive weapons. So-called dual-use technology (equipment that can be used for civilian and military purposes) is the bread and butter of Hamas and Hezbollah.

"Motorcycles like these took Israelis hostages," Sharon-Kettler said as he showed an Egyptian Halawa Motors motorcycle that was captured in Israel on Oct. 7. The Iranian regime-backed Hamas terrorist movement killed over 1,200 people on Oct. 7, including more than 40 American citizens. Hamas took over 250 people hostage on the same day.

The IDF also captured rockets from Palestinian Islamic Jihad that were used as "propaganda dummies" during parades against Israel in Gaza.

Strong M6.9 earthquake hits North Sumatra, Indonesia

Strong M6.9 earthquake hits North Sumatra, Indonesia

Teo Blašković

The epicenter was located 15 km (9 miles) NNW of Pematangsiantar (population 268 254), 20 km (12 miles) W of Pekan Bahapal (population 40 000), 30 km (19 miles) SSW of Tebingtinggi (population 117 530), 50 km (31 miles) N of Parapat (population 10 000), and 70 km (43 miles) SE of Medan (population 2 435 252), North Sumatra, Indonesia.

11.6 million people are estimated to have felt moderate shaking, 4.7 million light, and 24 000 weak.

There is no tsunami threat from this earthquake.

The USGS issued a Green alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. There is a low likelihood of casualties and damage.

Israeli strikes kill 11 in south Lebanon after Hezbollah wounds 3 IDF soldiers in attack

Israeli strikes kill 11 in south Lebanon after Hezbollah wounds 3 IDF soldiers in attack

Emanuel Fabian

Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people on Saturday, including three children and two women, Lebanese authorities said, with Israel saying the raids came in response to a  Hezbollah attack that violated the ceasefire and seriously wounded at least three IDF soldiers.

Israel later acknowledged that there were civilian casualties in the strikes, accusing the terror group of “deliberately put civilians in that military compound” and identifying the women and children as the family members of a targeted senior Hezbollah commander.

The Israeli strikes drew harsh criticism from Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, who accused Israel of sending a “clear message” ahead of the next round of US-sponsored negotiations between the countries.

Seven people were killed and two wounded when Israeli warplanes struck a home in Ansar, north of Tyre. Another strike in Deir al-Zahrani, north of Nabatieh, killed four people and wounded several others, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry and state news media.

The IDF confirmed launching airstrikes in southern Lebanon overnight, saying it struck Hezbollah infrastructure in response to an attack by the terror group on Israeli troops. However, the military has not commented on the Deir al-Zahrani strike.

A series of strikes were also reported in the Nabatieh area, including heavy attacks on the Ali Taher Ridge, beneath which Hezbollah has a major underground facility.

The IDF said it struck Hezbollah infrastructure in both the Nabatieh area and Ansar, which are some 9 miles apart.

“The strikes were carried out following an action by the Hezbollah terror organization against our forces in the Ali Taher Ridge area, which is located within the security zone where IDF troops are operating,” the military said, without immediately providing details on the Hezbollah attack.

Later Saturday, in a rare English language statement published on Shabbat, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that the Hezbollah attack seriously wounded three Israeli soldiers.

“This morning Hezbollah violated the ceasefire in Lebanon by attacking our soldiers in the security zone, which protects Israeli communities just across the border. The Hezbollah attack seriously injured three of our soldiers,” the statement said.

“The IDF responded by striking the Hezbollah terror headquarters which ordered the attack,” the PMO said.

“Only later did the IDF learn that Hezbollah deliberately put civilians in that military compound,” the statement added, acknowledging the civilian casualties.

The military also confirmed that women and children had been killed and said they were family members of the target, a senior Hezbollah commander.

“The headquarters was used by the Hezbollah terror organization to command its activities in the area,” the military said.

According to the IDF, the strike killed Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan, a battalion commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, along with several more Hezbollah operatives involved in advancing attacks on troops.

Aoun condemned what he called the “ongoing Israeli attacks” on southern Lebanon and “repeated violations of the framework agreement” and international law protecting civilians, according to a statement from his office.

He said the strikes, including the attack in Ansar, amounted to a “clear message on the negotiation process.”

The comments came ahead of the next round of US-sponsored talks, expected to take place in Rome early next month.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also condemned the strikes.