Daily News Brief for Tuesday, October 31st, 2023

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, October 31st, 2023. 
 
Happy reformation day everyone! 
 
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We start off with world news today… 
 
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/iran-proxies-strikes-against-us-troops-middle-east-israel
 
Iranian proxies continue attacks against US troops in Middle East following US strikes
 
Iranian proxy forces have continued conducting attacks against U.S. troops in Syria and Iraq following last week's U.S. strikes against two facilities linked to Iranian forces in Syria.
 
From Oct. 17 to Oct. 30, U.S. and coalition forces have been attacked at least 14 times at al Asad Air Base in Iraq and nine times at al Tanf garrison in Syria via a mix of one-way attack drones and rockets for a total of 23 attacks to date, a senior defense official told reporters on Monday. The total demonstrated an increase from late last week.
 
"Many of these attacks were successfully disrupted by our military," the official said. "Most failed to reach their targets thanks to our robust defenses."
 
The U.S. military in eastern Syria targeted two facilities used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps last Thursday.
 
“The President has no higher priority than the safety of U.S. personnel, and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will not tolerate such attacks and will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
 
One of the facilities the U.S. targeted was a "weapons storage area," while the other was "an ammunition storage area," according to a senior military official.
 
Twenty-one U.S. service members were injured, albeit not severely, at the two air bases between Oct. 17 and Oct. 18. A U.S. contractor died after suffering cardiac arrest when an early warning system detected another possible threat, leading to people scrambling for shelter.
 
U.S. leaders, President Joe Biden included, have urged Iran not to escalate or involve itself with Israel's war with Hamas. Hamas, which is a U.S.-designated Iran-supported terrorist organization based in Gaza, carried out an unprecedented terrorist attack on Oct. 7 that killed roughly 1,400 people, the vast majority of whom were civilians. The carnage included families being butchered, civilians burned alive, torture, sexual violence, and more.
 
Iran has forcefully spoken out against Israel's military response in Gaza, threatening to get involved in the conflict.
 
The Iranian Foreign Minister spoke in New York at the United Nations last week, where he warned the U.S. of "uncontrollable consequences" regarding its support for Israel.
 
Biden has reinforced the country's presence in the Middle East to attempt to deter Iranian aggression, though the continued attacks indicate that their bolstered presence may not be having the impact the president had hoped.
 
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2023/10/29/lynch-mob-storms-airport-in-russia-searching-for-jews-reportedly-arriving-from-tel-aviv-n2165671
 
'Lynch Mob' Storms Airport in Russia Searching for Jews Arriving From Tel Aviv
 
There is some scary news coming out of Dagestan, Russia, right now. 
 
There was what reports have described as a "lynch mob" storming the airport in Dagestan and chanting "Allahu Akbar," waving Palestinian flags and looking for Jews who they believed had arrived on a plane from Tel Aviv, Israel. Dagestan is a Muslim area.
 
There were also reports that the mob stopped police cars in front searching for Jews, as well as a bus full of children that they assumed were Israeli children. In videos shared on X, you can see them storm the terminal, and even make their way out onto the Tar-Mac, and demanded to know if any Jews were on planes on the Tar-Mac. 
 
The airport employee in the vest and green hat says there are no passengers on that plane. 
 
The mob started grilling people as to whether they were Jews and asking for passports. A  poor gentleman in one of the videos insisted he wasn't Jewish—that he was Uzbek—but they didn't believe him and demanded that he show his passport.
 
They were also allegedly looking for Jews in the cars around the airport and this footage allegedly shows them trying to flip a police car that dared to get in their way:
 
According to Ria Novosti, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is warning the mob they are on video, that order will be established and they will be identified and "face criminal liability." 
 
The Jerusalem Post said that the plane they were looking for was diverted to another airport, but the rioters went there as well.
 
According to N12, the pilots were warned of the mob and rerouted the plane to land at a nearby airport. The rioters reached that one as well. The flight staff ordered the locking of all aircraft exits, while security forces closed the area off. Russian aviation authority said all aircraft were diverted to other airports. A security source said that a small number of Israelis and Jews were secured in the airport, and were set to be evacuated to Moscow "at the earliest convenience."
 
This is happening as antisemitism is on the rise in Russia, as evidenced by a Jewish cultural center that was set on fire in the neighboring republic of Nalchik and graffitied with the inscription "Death to the Jews."
 
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/10/29/czech-defence-minister-calls-for-country-to-leave-u-n-for-cheering-hamas-terrorists/
 
Czech Defence Minister Calls for Country to Leave U.N. for ‘Cheering’ Hamas Terrorists
 
Czech Defence Minister Jana Černochová has called for her country to leave the United Nations in response to the international body’s failure to condemn Hamas terrorists for the slaughter of civilians in Israel on the October 7th attacks.
 
This week, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to demand a “ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas as Jerusalem was preparing for its invasion of Gaza to root out the Islamist terror organisation.
 
Just 14 nations opposed the measure, including Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Fiji, Guatemala, Hungary, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga and the United States.
 
Meanwhile, multiple attempts from the United States and others to pass a resolution to condemn the Hamas attacks were thwarted at the U.N. by China and Russia, who used their veto power as permanent members of the Security Council to block the condemnation of the terrorist group.
 
Responding to the apparent anti-Israel bias at the U.N. on Saturday, Czech Defence Minister Jana Černochová said: “In my opinion, the Czech Republic has no place in an organisation that cheers on terrorists and does not respect the fundamental right to self-defence,” declaring: “Let’s get out.”
 
“Exactly three weeks ago, Hamas murdered over 1,400 Israelis, more victims for their population than the militant Islamist organisation al-Qaeda murdered in the US on 9/11. And only 14 countries, including ours, have spoken out clearly and understandably against this unprecedented terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas terrorists! I am ashamed of the U.N.,” Černochová continued.
 
The Czech Defence Minister doubled down on her condemnations of the United Nations on Sunday, writing that the presence of hostile nations such as Iran and Russia, as well as states which violate human rights such as Afghanistan, North Korea and Syria, undermines the U.N. charter and therefore the very purpose of the institution itself. With China and Russia having a veto over expelling any nation from the international body, the process is meaningless, Černochová argued.
 
“What is the use of an organisation that cannot use even the few principles and possibilities it has and cannot apply them without the consent of the dictators?” she questioned.
 
The conservative politician said that if the U.N. is incapable of making reforms to be able to condemn terrorists or expel rogue nations “it has lost its role as a peacemaker”. Therefore, she said, the world needs “a new international organisation” based upon on “modern principles” such as the elimination of veto powers granted to dictatorships and the end of “sponsoring terrorists.”
 
The Czech defence chief concluded by saying that she had “often wondered” about how the world refused to believe the horrors committed in concentration camps by Nazi Germany during World War II but said that perhaps “it wasn’t the case at all,” saying that rather than refusing to believe the atrocities “a part of society apparently wanted to get rid of the Jews.”
 
“Anti-Semitism has spread deeply throughout the world, including the United Nations. They trust terrorists, but they don’t trust the country that has been protecting our Western civilisation’s ass for many years in the Middle East. Absurd world,” Černochová said.
 
“It is completely incomprehensible to me that no one is calling for a fundamental reform of the organisation, which long ago turned from a peacemaker into a hammer against Israel.”
 
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/californias-gun-ban-allowed-to-continue-by-appeals-court-5518977?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=BonginoReport
 
California’s Gun Ban Allowed to Continue by Appeals Court
 
A U.S. appeals court has allowed California’s ban on certain types of semi-automatic rifles, so-called assault weapons, to remain in effect, reversing an earlier lower court decision to stay the law.
 
Semi-automatic rifles have been restricted in the state since 1989, with the law updated multiple times to keep the ban in effect. On Oct. 19, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez in San Diego ruled that the ban was a violation of Second Amendment rights and issued an injunction that blocked its enforcement in the state.
 
An appeal against the ruling was filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
 
On Oct. 28, a panel of three judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the injunction issued by Judge Benitez, thereby allowing the weapon ban to take effect in the state.
 
By a 2–1 majority, the 9th Circuit panel stayed the judge's order, citing the full appeals court's finding in a similar case that the attorney general was likely to succeed on the merits and had shown that “California would be irreparably harmed absent a stay.”
 
Mr. Bonta, a Democrat who called Judge Benitez's decision “dangerous and misguided,” welcomed the Oct. 28 9th Circuit order.
 
“Weapons of war do not belong on our streets,” Mr. Bonta said, pointing to the mass shooting on Oct. 25  in Lewiston, Maine, that claimed 18 lives and left 13 people wounded.
 
In 1989, California became the first U.S. state to ban semi-automatic rifles, acting in the wake of a school shooting that killed five children, then toughened the law the following year.
 
Since then, California has restricted the manufacture, distribution, transportation, importation, sale, or possession of firearms that qualify under the law as “assault weapons.”
 
Judge Benitez declared the same law unconstitutional in 2021. But the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit last year vacated his order and directed him to review the matter further.
 
Judge Benitez, in September, also ruled California's ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines unconstitutional. But the 9th Circuit subsequently allowed that statute to remain in effect while the state appeals.
 
In a post on Facebook, nonprofit civil rights advocate Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) stated that even though the 9th Circuit has “temporarily blocked our District Court victory, [the] good news is that the State’s appeal has been expedited and it is likely that the merits panel, which hears the appeal, will be made up of different judges.”
 
“Once all briefs are filed, it is possible that the merits panel may order additional oral arguments,” the group stated in the post.
 
In the Oct. 19 ruling, Judge Benitez wrote that the U.S. Constitution made it clear that Americans have the right to decide what firearms they use for self-defense.
 
He pointed out that the banned rifles use the same ammunition, perform the same functions, and fire at the same rate as rifles that haven't been prohibited. The legislators selected which firearms to ban based on how the guns looked, he wrote.
 
“Falling back on an old, recycled justification, the State says that its ban should stand because a person can have as many other rifles, shotguns, and pistols as one wants,” Judge Benitez wrote in the ruling. "[However,] this is not the way American Constitutional rights work. It is not permissible for a state to ban some books simply because there are other books to read.
 
“In their normal configurations, the so-called ‘assault weapons’ ... are modern firearms commonly owned by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes across the nation.”
 
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, had criticized Judge Benitez’s ruling, insisting that the judge is “hellbent on making it more dangerous for our kids to go to school, for families to go to the mall, or to attend a place of worship,” according to an Oct. 19 statement.
 
The 9th Circuit’s ruling to allow California’s weapon ban to remain in effect comes as the Biden administration is pushing for stronger gun control regulations.
 
Following the mass shooting in Maine that killed 18 people, President Biden said in an Oct. 26 statement that while his administration has “made progress on gun safety,” such measures are “simply not enough.”