Search This Blog

Tuesday, August 18, 2026

UAE condemns Israeli strikes on Syrian airbase

 The United Arab Emirates has joined Qatar and Turkey in condemning Israel's strikes on the Abu al-Duhur Air Base in Syria, calling them a "flagrant violation of international law."

UAE's foreign ministry said in a statement that it is reaffirming the country's "unwavering position in support of Syria's stability and territorial integrity."

"The UAE called on the international community to take immediate action to halt the repeated attacks on Syrian territory and to stop the escalation," the statement added.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/UAE-condemns-Israeli-strikes-on-Syrian-airbase/66944306

So is a vote for El-Sayed a vote for bin Laden?

 by Monica Showalter

We already know how woke-crazy Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed's half-sister at the University of Chicago is -- a screaming lunatic radical whose loathing for the U.S. knows no bottom. Hear her in action, here and here.

Now we learn that his mom, Fatten Fathy Elkomy, had her own way of hating on America.

According to Townhall's Amy Curtis:

It turns out Fatten Fathy Elkomy worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA), which was also known as the Islamic African Relief Agency, from 1999 through at least 2004.

The IARA ran 40 offices worldwide and claimed to focus on healthcare and providing for orphans and others in areas of conflict.

In 2004, however, the U.S. Treasury Department designated the organization and five senior officials as an organization supporting terrorism.

This includes support for Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the al-Qaeda terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001. The group also supported al-Qaeda, Hamas, and the Taliban.

She is citing independent reporting from Natalie Winters who published her findings on X:

Suffice to say, it takes a special kind of nth-level hatred for America to want to work for an organization that would give money to al-Qaeda, not just before the 9/11 terror attack, but after it, too, and for the next three years, when al-Qaeda's name stank to high heavens.

Unlike her neighbors, unlike the people she stopped next to at stop signs while driving, and shopped next to at grocery stores with, and went to the doctor and encountered, she loved herself some al-Qaeda, some Hamas, some Taliban, plus Saddam's monstrous tyranny in Iraq, which was under sanctions. All of these terrorist organizations and states got money from her Islamic American Relief Agency, and still would be getting it, were it not for the lawmen shutting the group down following the indictments.

But while El-Sayed's parents divorced when he was young and each remarried quickly under circumstances that suggest skeevy immigration activity, and El-Sayed didn't live with her for very long, El-Sayed's dad was similar. He was named as another helper in the lawmen's exhibited documents (the pair were never arrested, probably because they were not the leadership of the organization, and lawmen pick their battles) and in addition, he was closely associated with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the incubator of al-Qaeda and the home of al-Qaeda's Number Two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who later became Number One after bin Laden's rubout by U.S. Special Forces in 2011. Egyptian, Muslim Brotherhood, that's where you go if you are a terrorist-minded Egyptian.

So let's not forget that al-Qaeda's lead hijacker, Mohamed Atta, also was Egyptian, too.

So imagine belonging to such an organization in those dark days following the monstrous attack, and keeping at it. 

Nobody picks his parents of course, but parents do indeed infuse their kids with their values. El-Sayed hasn't condemned either of these al-Qaeda succorers, though he claims to be respectable now, but his silence on them and their activities is pretty telling. He should be condemning them to high heavens, but instead, he says nothing, and hopes American voters will send him to the Senate to rule over them -- in ways bin Laden could only dream of.

Obviously, this is problematic and voters shouldn't wave this guy through as Michigan's senator. Too much blood and treasure has been spilled for any American to support him. Unless, of course their hatred matches that of El-Sayed's parents, or they simply don't know. In that case, we would be in a world of trouble.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/08/so-is-a-vote-for-el-sayed-a-vote-for-bin-laden/

Anti-rich DSA leader Gordillo lives it up in posh $1.5M NYC pad paid for by millionaire parents

 The millionaire parents of a whiny top DSA leader have set up their socialist son in a $1.5 million Brooklyn home — where he lives while railing against the rich and property ownership, The Post has learned.

Gustavo Gordillo, the 38-year-old co-chair of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, is peddling his anti-capitalist lefty agenda while enjoying the life in the two-story, nearly 2,000-square-foot row home on a gentrifying tree-lined block in Bed-Stuy.

“I wish my family could afford to buy me a million-dollar home,” said local renter Faith Smith, 36 — who called the socialist Yale University grad a hypocrite. 

Gustavo Gordillo, the co-chair of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, lives in an expensive house purchased by his parents.Cindy Schultz for NY Post
The Bed-Stuy house that Gordillo’s parents purchased for just under $1 million.William C Lopez/NYPost
“It’s a rich kid,’’ she said of the Yalie. “That’s basically people who don’t have to deal with the struggles we have to deal with.”

The Ivy League radical’s converted single-family home was bought in 2019 by his mommy and daddy through a dummy corporation, Chucuito LLC, for just under $1 million, property records show.

Since then, it has undergone a major facelift, with renovations done to its entire front facade, the planting of lush landscaping, the revamping of the interior and the addition a pair of decks on the roof as well as near the front door, according to plans filed with the borough in 2023.

Updates to the property continued Tuesday at least on its second floor, The Post observed.

“My son and my other son both live there,” Gordillo’s father said when reached by phone. “The LLC purchased the home, and then we did the renovations.”

Gordillo’s father confirmed to The Post that Gustavo and his brother both live in the Brooklyn house.William C Lopez/NYPost

Gordillo and his DSA comrades have meanwhile railed against property ownership, calling for a redistribution of land “from landowners to the landless.”

Gordillo also recently attacked landlords in a vitriolic interview on Fox News last month, when he offered up little sympathy for property and other business owners who skate by with small margins.

“We don’t think that anybody should have the constitutional right to double-digit returns on their investment,” he said.

Gordillo has often touted himself as a blue-collar union electrician, with his X handle @UnionGordillo.

But since 2024, he has stopped referring to himself as an IBEW Local 3 member and instead identified as just some form of a union worker.

Reports show he joined the IBEW in 2019, but there are no records indicating he made it through the seven-year journeymen process.

He told the New York Times earlier this year he was no longer an electrician.

It is unclear what he does to earn a paycheck.

Before coming to the Big Apple, Gordillo studied art at Yale University, where he graduated from in 2010.

Gordillo’s father confirmed to The Post that the lefty and his brother live in the revamped Brooklyn spot — after admitting that the dad had rented a place for the DSA leader on the Lower East Side for $2,600 a month through the same LLC between 2016 and 2019.

Gordillo worked at an art gallery during those years before becoming an electrician, according to City and State.

Gordillo and other DSA members have railed against private property ownership and landlords.William C Lopez/NYPost

It was unclear whether Gordillo, who listed the LES one-bed, one-bath as his primary residence at that time, repaid his parents for rent.

Calls to him were not returned.

An immigrant from Peru, Gordillo grew up in South Florida with his parents, who ended up thriving in America.

The parents now own a sprawling more than 5,000-square-foot, five-bed, six-bath home in Boca Raton that is currently on the market for $3.1 million, records show.

They also own another $3 million home in Weston, Fla., that is just slightly larger and has five beds and seven baths.

His dad, also Gustavo, made his money as the founder of Draftpros Inc., which specializes in engineering and consulting services.

https://nypost.com/2026/08/18/us-news/dsa-leader-gustavo-gordillo-lives-in-1-5-million-brooklyn-pad-paid-for-by-millionaire-parents/

El-Sayed: KISS And Tell

by James Zumwalt 

Last week was interesting for anyone concerned about Islam’s growing influence in America.

Recently revealed were the 2009 remarks made by Michigan US Senate nominee, Democrat and avowed Muslim, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed.  He reportedly shared that, while in medical school, he chose to obtain a loan that was compliant with Islamic law—Sharia. In fact, he proclaimed that, as a Muslim, he would always follow Sharia in “everything” he ever sought to do.

Some may dismiss these remarks, made 17 years ago, as those of a man simply dedicated deeply to his religion—one he embraces totally separate from his political views and life in general. However, such a dismissal would be a big mistake for Michigan voters in the upcoming election.

While U.S. legislators embracing Christianity and most other religions do leave their religion at the door to represent their constituency on matters concerning their well-being, Muslims dedicated to their “religion” do not—and cannot. There is no issue amongst non-Muslim legislators complying with the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment mandate prohibiting the establishment of a national religion and protecting the free exercise of religion; but for Muslim legislators, there is.

The above mandate gives rise to the philosophical and jurisprudential concept that there can be no state-mandated religion—i.e., “separation of church and state.” But, what if such separation is impossible because one has declared his total commitment to a religion that disallows such a separation?

This is the case with Islam. It fuses the interests of its “church” and state into a single ideology. Thus, “everything” done—as stated in Sayed’s 2009 remarks—is to be done in furtherance of Islam. If Sayed were truthful in his 2009 declaration and, if elected in November, he would become a disobedient Muslim were he, like other U.S. legislators, to leave his religion at the Senate Chamber’s doors. And, as counterterrorism analyst Kyle Shideler warns, Sayed has links to the Muslim Brotherhood—a “religious” political organization founded in 1928 serving as a breeding ground for Islamists and groups seeking America’s demise. Unafraid its own extremism will deter voters, the Brotherhood just endorsed Sayed.

Meanwhile, a fellow Muslim recently wrote an article sharing her personal experience on what happens in an Islamic country when one commits the “sin” (apostasy) of converting to another religion.

Marziyeh Amirizadeh was born in Iran where she later converted to Christianity—a country in which no such human right to convert exists under Islam. Not only is religious conversion from Islam banned, it is an act punishable by death.

Amirizadeh was arrested in 1999 and sentenced to death for the crime of apostasy. She sat on death row in Tehran’s infamous Evin Prison before being able to escape and flee the country. Eventually making her way to the U.S., she reported her proudest moment came in 2016 as she took the oath to become an American citizen. Having suffered the lash of Islam in Iran, Amirizadeh undoubtedly harbors deep concerns over a candidate who openly admits everything he does in life is to honor Islam.

A big gap exists between human rights recognized by most nations of the global community and those recognized by Muslim nations. It is evidenced by the history of a 1948 United Nations document which attempted to establish an internationally acceptable definition of human rights—known as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

In defining universal human rights, the UDHR followed what later became known as the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle. These rights were described as fundamental freedoms belonging to every individual meeting but one test—being a member of humanity.

In the aftermath of Adolf Hitler’s Jewish genocide, the UDHR sought to universally protect fundamental human rights. While some Muslim countries signed the agreement, a critical Islamic nation, Saudi Arabia, abstained.

Saudi Arabia’s abstention was due to the requirement that its king completely comply with Sharia and the Quran. Obviously, also as “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,” Saudi Arabia could not do anything to undermine Sharia. But its abstention clearly demonstrated human rights under Islam was not on an equal footing with those under the UDHR.

In 1990, all 57 member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) adopted the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI)—a document that limited the UDHR’s definition of human rights in favor of those recognized by Sharia. While the CDHRI was modified in 2020 to align closer to the UDHR, what the latter document memorialized, the former still does not. Within the gap that exists between fundamental human rights recognition under the UDHR and CDHRI are those of women and gays—shockingly two groups that have been supportive of the terrorist group Hamas in its acts against Israel.

In a recent WNBA basketball game, a black player committed a flagrant foul on a white player, for which the former was ejected. Afterward, the black player ridiculously claimed the only reason she was ejected was due to “white privilege.” As the foul was nothing short of flagrant, the sole purpose in claiming white privilege was to avoid accountability for a vicious act.

Under Islam, the reverse occurs. Flagrant CDHRI violations of fundamental human rights as defined by the UDHR are not being called out as such. Accordingly, it is “Muslim privilege” that allows an erosion of the UDHR’s fundamental human rights. Should El-Sayed be elected in November, democracy will have opened the door to put Muslim privilege into play.

Sayed needs to be asked some pertinent questions. For example, were it up to him, what fate should a Muslim suffer for converting to Christianity? Does he personally consider all women to be equal to all men? Does he intend, if elected, to leave his religion at the door, contrary to Islam’s demand?

For the record, El-Sayed could well give false testimony in response. Such is permissible under Islam. While honesty is supposedly honored, three situations allow Muslims to lie. These include lying to resolve a situation between two individuals, to a spouse in order to please her, and to be deceptive about an ongoing war. Clearly, as Islam’s ultimate goal is the submission of all religions to it, such a war between Islam and all other religions is in progress.

Sayed’s 2009 remarks tell us all we need to know about him. He represents exactly the kind of mindset our Founding Fathers sought to keep out of government—one hellbent on exercising religious overreach in everything he does to further Islamic domination. Amirizadeh forewarned “America, please do not be fooled, and please do not vote for any of these Islamists or their enablers. Heaven help us all.”

Applying the KISS principle to Michigan’s November U.S. Senate election, a well-known warning to the main character in a mid-1960s television program, “Lost in Space,” comes to mind. A robot, perceiving what lay ahead, declared, “Danger, Will Robinson!” The November election should trigger a similar warning for Michigan voters.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/08/el-sayed-kiss-and-tell/

Headed back to the Dark Ages, but not in a good way

 by Olivia Murray

I've often heard people (including myself) talk about how the leftist “net zero” policies would (and do) guarantee a return to the Dark Ages, because “progressivism” is actually regressivism. This isn’t just political theory or speculation either, because the proof is in the pudding. We’ve seen it happen across Europe—with blackouts and energy rationing—and in Democrat-controlled states.

Now though, the leftists have re-introduced another “Dark Ages” plight through policy, and where else but California first?

Because the streets are covered in feces and urine and rats, “medieval diseases” have returned in force. From a report in the City Journal earlier this month:

Since 2009, the number of flea-borne typhus cases in L.A. has increased by a staggering 2,300 percent. Last year, the county recorded more cases than at any point in its history.

But typhus isn’t the end of it. There are documented TB outbreaks, described as “one of the worst [epidemics] in a decade” in some online reporting;  typhoid fever, which has even been contracted by some law enforcement officers; Hepatitis A; Shigellosis; Staph and MRS; and while the Bubonic Plague and leprosy haven’t yet been confirmed, the “conditions [are] ripe” for an outbreak.

It also must be said that aside from these medieval and biblical-age diseases reappearing, streets covered in human waste is very “Dark Ages” on its own—but at least the medieval people had the excuse of no indoor plumbing. What’s ours? Or, more precisely, what’s your excuse Democrats?

When I’ve thought about the “Dark Ages” as a whole, I’ve realized it wasn’t actually all that “dark.”

There was tremendous beauty in local architecture; now I’m visually assaulted by “modern” art installations—like obese black women statues—and mass housing developments made of plastic materials that look like they were sourced from the Home Depot bargain bin.

Medieval peasants worked less than the average American does now.

There were no chemicals and environmental toxins, and navigating the food system offered only healthy options; I’m full of microplastics against my will, I have to spend a significant amount of money on my food just to mitigate the poison on/in it, and my immune system is under intense stress with all the geoengineering experiments and spike protein factories (Covid-19 vaccine recipients) walking around and shedding on me.

A vast majority of the Dark Ages population held to Christian morality, and actually lived by it; today, we’ve got Islamists taking control of our American and Western governments, and we actually have to argue with a massive voting bloc over whether or not gay pornography in the kindergarten classroom is acceptable. And that just scratches the surface of the depravity we deal with.

So we’re being sent back to the Dark Ages, with none of the benefits that could come along with it. Thanks a**holes—I mean, Democrats. Thanks a lot. What a joy it is to co-govern with you all!

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/08/headed-back-to-the-dark-ages-but-not-in-a-good-way/

China Added 200,000 Bpd To Crude Reserves In July Despite Hormuz Crisis

 By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

China is estimated to have added about 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to its huge inventories in July as imports rebounded from a decade-low in June and refinery runs remained depressed.

The world’s top crude oil importer, unlike other major oil consumers, started drawing down on stockpiles only in May, the third month of the Middle East crisis, as it had amassed an estimated 1.4 billion barrels of crude oil in commercial and strategic stocks at the start of the Iran war.

The trend of drawdowns in May and June appears to have reversed in July, according to calculations by Reuters columnist Clyde Russell based on officially available Chinese data.

Unlike the United States, China does not report inventories. Analysts are looking at overall supply (domestic production plus imports) and refinery processing rates to estimate how much crude is going into reserves and how much is being processed into fuels.

Using this calculation, Reuters’ Russell has estimated that China had 210,000 bpd of crude available to go to storage in July, considering total crude availability of 12.72 million bpd (8.41 million bpd of imports and 4.3 million bpd of domestic production), and refinery throughput of 12.51 million bpd.

The latest estimates show that China’s massive crude oil stockpile has mostly remained intact at about 1.2 billion barrels, five months after the worst disruption to global oil supply began with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

China slashed its overall crude oil imports amid the Middle East conflict as its refiners cut run rates and authorities restricted fuel exports to protect domestic supply.

Now China has eased some of the fuel export restrictions, which led to a rebound in crude oil imports in July, following a ten-year low seen in June.

The higher crude oil imports in July likely allowed stockpiling again, in a surprise to the market and possibly indicating continued weakness in domestic demand and refining volumes.

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/china-added-200000-bpd-crude-reserves-july-despite-hormuz-crisis

Comcast Turns Millions Of Routers to Motion Sensors, Same WiFi Signals Can ID You With 99.5% Accuracy

 Dear Comcast customers: The internet gateway in your living room is now a motion sensor. It's free of charge, and the data can go to law enforcement without further notice. What's more, researchers have already shown that these same signals can identify exactly who is in the room.

On Tuesday, Comcast unveiled Xfinity Shield, a home security platform built entirely around the WiFi network. Its centerpiece, WiFi Motion, turns the leased gateway into a motion detector at no extra charge. According to Comcast, a typical customer has roughly 36 devices connected to their WiFi.

WiFi Motion works because a human body moving through a room disturbs the signal field between the gateway and stationary connected devices, like a printer or a game console. While the feature is opt-in and - according to Comcast's rollout materials - does not track phones or reach through WiFi extenders, those limitations are choices Comcast made in software, not limitations of the technology itself.

Comcast says WiFi Motion works "without recording video, capturing images or identifying individuals."

The company is not shy about identification as a product. The $15-a-month tier, Xfinity Shield Select, adds AI-powered cameras that identify people, pets, packages and vehicles. The free tier's restraint is a line drawn one product SKU away.

The company's own terms spell out where the data can go. According to the fine print that drew criticism when the feature first appeared last year, Comcast "may disclose information generated by your WiFi Motion to third parties without further notice" in connection with law enforcement investigations. Users pointed out at the time that the only complete opt-out is returning the Xfinity router.

The true capabilities of this technology were laid out by researchers at Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in findings presented last November at the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security in Taipei. Using nothing but the traffic from an ordinary WiFi network, their system identified people with 99.5 percent accuracy in a study of 197 participants, regardless of viewing angle or how the person walked.

The method exploits beamforming feedback information (BFI) - housekeeping signals that every connected device sends back to the router so it can aim its transmissions efficiently. Beamforming has shipped with consumer WiFi hardware since WiFi 5. Because this feedback travels unencrypted, anyone within radio range can read it and, using a trained model, convert it into a crude radio image of whoever is present.

The person being identified does not need to be carrying a device at all; it is enough that other people's nearby phones and laptops are talking to the router. "This technology turns every router into a potential means for surveillance," KIT's Julian Todt warned. He described a scenario in which someone who regularly walks past a café running a WiFi network could be recognized there later - by authorities or companies - without ever knowing it happened.

One limitation provides a reality check: the system works only after it has been trained on a person's radio signature. The 99.5 percent accuracy figure applies to re-identifying enrolled participants, not identifying a stranger cold. The attack succeeds when it can say 'the person recorded here is the person recorded earlier'. So this limitation disappears once anyone with sufficient reach starts collecting signatures at scale.

The standards process has already moved past the warning stage. In 2025, the IEEE ratified 802.11bf, an amendment that deliberately builds sensing capabilities into WiFi - such as presence detection, fall detection, and breathing monitoring - and early implementations are already appearing in silicon. While the KIT team is urging for privacy safeguards in that new standard, the technique they demonstrated needs none of it: it runs entirely on beamforming features that have been deployed in consumer routers for over a decade.

The researchers tested mitigations. Cutting the frequency of beamforming reports barely dented accuracy even at heavily degraded sample rates, and encrypting the feedback would require rewriting the WiFi standard and breaking backward compatibility with billions of deployed devices.

Meanwhile, the visible surveillance layer is in open retreat in America. Flock Safety, the license plate reader network that became the flashpoint of this year's anti-surveillance backlash, spent last week announcing guardrails - cutting default data retention from 30 days to seven, and instituting automatic lockouts for abnormal searches. The company's own justification undercuts the gesture: Flock says more than 90 percent of searches are completed within a week anyway. This comes after a summer of reports of misuse, more than 50 agencies and jurisdictions walking away from contracts since January, and people in multiple states destroying the cameras outright. The ACLU called the changes a "thinly veiled PR attempt" built on "largely hollow security promises."

A camera is at least a visible object: it sits on a pole, neighbors notice it, city councils vote on it, and when enough people get angry, it comes down. Flock needed a decade and roughly 120,000 cameras to cover American roads. The WiFi build-out was finished years ago - one living room, café, and office at a time - and there is nothing on a pole to point at.

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/comcast-turns-millions-routers-motion-sensors-same-wifi-signals-can-id-you-995-accuracy