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.

An Inversion Of God’s Design: New Study Says Human Population Needs To Be Cut In Half

An Inversion Of God’s Design: New Study Says Human Population Needs To Be Cut In Half

Ken Ham

God formed earth for mankind.

Isaiah 45:18 declares, “For thus says Yahweh, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it; He established it and did not create it a formless place, but formed it to be inhabited), ‘I am Yahweh, and there is none else.'”

In Genesis 1:26, we read, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’” 

The modern environmental movement is about more than just protecting earth’s creatures and resources (something we must do as good stewards of God’s creation)—it’s an inversion of God’s design. This movement puts the creation in dominion over man—the opposite of what God instructed. God formed earth for mankind, to use, to tend and keep, to exercise dominion over, to enjoy, and to glorify God with: “The heavens are the heavens of Yahweh, But the earth He has given to the sons of men” (Psalm 115:16).

But today’s environmentalism says humans are a blight, a disease, on this planet and we need to start removing ourselves for the betterment of everything else. Consider this quote from a new study that claims we need to halve the world population, taking it from 8 billion to less than 4 billion, by 2200:

The authors argued that data shows population growth leads to a decline in wildlife abundance, an increase in CO2 emissions, an increase in energy consumption, a greater ecological footprint, greater freshwater use, mineral extraction, plastics production, and pesticide use.

“Global environmental problems are caused by people, nothing else. The more of us there are, the greater our overall economic demands and the greater the associated environmental problems,” the authors asserted.

They draw the conclusion, therefore, that “in the long run, population growth itself is unsustainable.”

According to these researchers, humans are the ultimate problem and the only sustainable solution is for us to get ourselves out of the way by continuing to decrease the global fertility rate (which is only at 2.2, barely above replacement level) through providing more “reproductive health services” (by that they surely mean abortion [murdering children in the womb] and birth control) and “improving girls’ educational opportunities, especially in poorer countries.”

This kind of thinking regarding humanity has been around for a very long time, but it’s important to note that none, none, of the dire predictions of these alarmists have come true in decades past. And that’s partly because these researchers view mankind as primarily consumers, not as producers.

The great threat to humanity is not that there will be too many people. The problem is the looming population collapse! As fertility rates continue to plummet around the world, the population ages, the workforce shrinks, and the economy suffers or even collapses. A article on this new study put it this way, with a quote from other researchers on this coming collapse:

“Even if below-replacement fertility is sustained only for a few centuries, the size of the global population could become very small.” . . . This means that a whole slew of harmful effects to society will follow population decline, likely including a decline in basic services and infrastructure; unemployment; a decline in innovation; insufficient end-of-life care for the elderly; and a decline in mental health.

Even the World Economic Forum (WEF) has admitted that the effects of population collapse will be “severe.”

As mankind increasingly ignores God’s command (which He has never revoked) to “be fruitful and multiply,” a command which came in tandem with his command to have dominion, humanity will suffer. God’s instructions to the first human couple were to both have children and take dominion. As a whole, humanity can’t ignore either part of God’s design for us without serious consequences.

But environmentalists don’t just get their view of mankind wrong, they also have a wrong view of God. Many of them are either atheists, who do not believe God exists, or pantheists, who think that God is in everything or that God is nature (or “Mother Nature”). The result is that they worship the creature, rather than the Creator, and are reduced to foolishness (just read Romans 1).

The Biblical God—the only true God—is a generous God who specifically designed earth to be inhabited by humans. Yes, it’s a fallen creation; it’s groaning; it’s filled with “thorns and thistles.” Having dominion is hard work now, but God has still provided generously for our needs through His creation. Wise stewardship, creativity, and thankfulness to God are what are needed to solve our environmental crises, not a severe reduction in the population of those who bear that Creator’s image!

A Third Red Heifer Is Born:

A Third Red Heifer Is Born: Rabbis Race to Examine the Herd Israel Has Waited 2,000 Years to Raise

Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz

A calf was born in a dairy barn in the Jordan Valley last week, and on Rosh Chodesh Elul, a delegation of rabbis stood over her, running their hands through her coat. She was the third heifer of her kind to be born in Israel this season, joining two others already under watch in the Galilee and the Golan Heights. 

Together, the three calves represent the most concrete progress yet toward a goal Jewish tradition has pursued since the destruction of the Second Temple: raising a red heifer whose ashes can restore ritual purity to the Jewish people.

The examinations were carried out by the Beit Midrash, the rabbinic study hall, of the National Institute for Red Heifer Research, a body that unites religious Zionist, Litvish, and Hasidic rabbis around a single national mission. Members of the Institute traveled to all three farms in a single sweep, checking the calves from tail to head for the disqualifying flaws that have derailed nearly every red heifer candidate in living memory.

The requirements come directly from the Hebrew Bible. “This is the ritual law that Hashem has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid” (Numbers 19:2). Since the Second Temple’s destruction nearly two thousand years ago, the ashes of such a cow have been unavailable, leaving every Jew in a state of ritual impurity from contact with the dead, a status the Bible calls tumat met. Without those ashes, the purification described in the Torah cannot take place, and full Temple service cannot resume. That is why a light hair on a newborn calf is not a minor veterinary detail. It is the difference between a heifer that can eventually serve the nation and one that cannot.

The first stop was Beit Rimon in the Galilee, where the heifer given the name Temimah, meaning “unblemished” or “whole,” was examined three months after her birth. Temimah’s case has been the most closely watched of the three, because a farmhand attached an identification tag to her ear shortly after birth, before anyone recognized what she might become. The tag raised concern that it may have caused a disqualifying blemish.

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IDF lookouts warn of suspicious Hamas activity similar to October 6th

IDF lookouts warn of suspicious Hamas activity similar to October 6th

Vered Weiss

IDF lookouts serving in two sectors along the Gaza border have warned that Hamas terrorists and other suspicious individuals are repeatedly approaching the Yellow Line and testing Israel’s response, while authorization to eliminate perceived threats is being delayed, Israel’s Channel 12 reported Thursday.

The lookouts said they are identifying suspicious activity daily and compared the situation to the period immediately before the Oct. 7 attack.

“I feel like it’s October 6,” one lookout said. “The only difference is that we’re identifying it at the Yellow Line and not at the fence. The Gazans aren’t stupid; ultimately, they are constantly testing us and seeing whether we respond or not. It’s just like before October 7.”

The soldiers said obtaining authorization to fire becomes increasingly difficult when decisions are referred to higher levels of command.

One lookout described a recent incident near the fence in which she spotted a suspicious individual carrying a weapon and engaging in “activity on the ground” that she said could indicate the placement of an explosive device. Forces operating in the area were alerted, but authorization to eliminate the threat was not received.

“It gets stuck higher up,” she said. “The problem is simply that it gets stuck higher up. The moment the political echelon gives an order that fire cannot be used, our hands are effectively tied and we’re going back to October 6.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected claims that Israel had changed its policy toward threats in Gaza.

“Israel will continue to eliminate every threat to our citizens and our soldiers,” Netanyahu said.

The Prime Minister’s Office said the political leadership was not preventing the military from responding to threats and that the chief of staff had clarified the rules of engagement.

The lookouts said they feared the restrictions were endangering troops operating inside Gaza, who could be positioned only a few hundred meters from terrorists.

“Not everyone who massacred people on October 7 was killed,” one lookout said. “It’s possible that the same weapon I’m seeing through surveillance was used to massacre children and Israeli residents. It simply infuriates me. It feels like they’re making a mockery of us.”

Total Freedom Vs Total Slavery & The Race For AI Supremacy

Total Freedom Vs Total Slavery & The Race For AI Supremacy

 Brandon Smith

The introduction of AI into popular consciousness and everyday usage has been rather disappointing, for the most part. And by that I mean, we’re not seeing any spectacular benefits to the presence of AI while the negatives keep piling up.Every new industrial age has it’s dreamers and they all imagine a world where human struggle is eliminated by machines. It never happens. I suspect robotics and AI would make some things easier, just as all tools make certain jobs easier, but let’s not forget that the further humanity moves away from self reliance the more we seem to be required to work (or, the more time we are expected to trade) to maintain a basic level of comfort.Despite the vast improvements in productivity, there was no dramatic improvement in free time for common people and I’m not so sure the AI revolution will be any different. This brings us to the second problem: Nothing in life is ever free and the reason why is ENERGY.

 I foresee a dark future, maybe a decade from now, where the vast majority of people have become virtually retarded because all of their daily decisions and views of the world come from a reliance on AI.

Some people will argue that we’ve already hit that unfortunate threshold. In any case, what is the ultimate purpose of AI? There’s hundreds of different answers depending on who you ask, however, only a few explanations stand out as true motivators for the race to artificial intelligence.

If you ask technologists and dreamers like Elon Musk, the goal is unlimited production. Meaning, AI and robotics would take over the majority of human labor. In theory, this would result in a new age of “time abundance” which Musk believes would lead to a form of wealth abundance. That is to say, AI technology makes individual labor unnecessary and thus, money becomes unnecessary because all basic needs would be provided for free.

There are two disturbing problems with this idea: First, it’s a claim we’ve been hearing for a very long time. The futurists and technocrats of every socialist revolution have been promising the populace a labor-free Utopia for over a century. Usually this propaganda is designed to ease the public transition into a system in which the state controls mass production and limits individual freedom.

The promise of a labor-free world is usually a con-game designed to lure the public into total reliance on government. When your very survival is dependent on the system, it’s far less likely that you will ever rebel against that system should it be corrupted.

I’m not saying that Musk is falsely promising a “Utopia”, I think he really does believe that AI and robotics are the answer to the age-old conundrum of the “wealth gap”, poverty and the production plateau. What I’m saying is, this dream is much further away than the year 2036, or even the year 2050. And, if we do reach it, it might not be as fantastical as we might hope.

Every new industrial age has it’s dreamers and they all imagine a world where human struggle is eliminated by machines. It never happens. I suspect robotics and AI would make some things easier, just as all tools make certain jobs easier, but let’s not forget that the further humanity moves away from self reliance the more we seem to be required to work (or, the more time we are expected to trade) to maintain a basic level of comfort.

Musk’s vision of an AI super-industry running the majority of the world’s basic infrastructure and supplying the majority of our survival goods would require an unprecedented level of energy. Ever try to fly a drone? Ever look up the average battery life for a Boston Dynamics robot? Ever try to drive an EV cross-country?

You might get 30 minutes out of a consumer grade drone. You can get 4 hours out of an advanced robot. The massive battery in an electric car will give you around 300 miles of drive time. But when you recharge any of these items you’re going to be using the power grid. And, that power grid will largely be supplied by coal or natural gas. “Fossil fuel” products still run the world because they are the most efficient.

There’s a reason why only 5% of US car owners drive an electric vehicle; the initial expense is high and the long term savings are mediocre. More than that, though, the infrastructure is simply not in place to support a larger influx of EV users.

If 50% of American drivers bought an EV tomorrow, this alone would increase the electrical load on US power grids by around 15%. Add to this the power usage of data centers and AI computing needed to run national robotics networks and the resulting energy demands would crush the grid. Either that, or the cost of electricity would inflate until human demand hits a wall.

This is just for America (the most advanced nation on Earth). Don’t get me started on Europe, where their grid can’t even handle widespread use of air conditioners.

We could upgrade with solar (which is inefficient), or build extra nuclear power plants, but this would take decades to accomplish. General estimates indicate such a project would cost anywhere from $5 trillion on the low end to $15 trillion on the high end, and it would take 30 years to complete. We’re talking about a two-generation endeavor requiring a level of coordination and cooperation that simply does not exist in today’s political climate.

The worst case scenario is the more likely one: AI, data centers and robotics will be used to empower elitist groups and make controlling the population easier. When I examine institutions like the WEF, the IMF, the BIS, etc. , their involvement with AI revolves around the digitization of the economy (a cashless society) and maximizing surveillance of the population through real time data tracking.

Until these malicious people are removed from the equation, no AI based system can be trusted to operate in the best interests of the public. Maybe the technology can be used for good, but they are pursuing these tools to do evil and there is an array of sinister deeds to be done when you have a force multiplier like AI at your disposal.

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