Joe Biden launched into another incoherent rant at the White House Monday night, veering into a bizarre discussion about galaxies and the weather.

BIDEN: "I found it when I was turning on my phone and saw that I thought, 'My God, what is this? Science fiction.' No, I'm serious. Didn't you have the same thought when you saw it?" pic.twitter.com/5txkpMt31K

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 30, 2023

“Helping detect weather events… Helping web text… The web tuh, tele, web telescope… Manage half a million miles of galaxies, billions of light years away… I found it when I was turning on my phone and saw that I thought, ‘My God, what is this? Science fiction.’ No, I’m serious,” babbled Biden.

Watch the moment above.

October 31, 2023 at 08:17AM - The First
BIDEN SHOCKS: Senile Joe Launches Incoherent Rant About ‘Weather, Web Text, and Galaxies’
Read the full story by clicking this headline, at The First TV

Let’s take a detour from politics and war. But this might be the most controversial thing I publish all year. And it’s long, because I could write 10,000 words on why I hate Halloween (don’t worry, it’s not 10,000 words).

Over the past few years, I broke down and participated in Halloween. I dressed up in costume and handed out candy to kids. I went with my kids traipsing around the neighborhood begging for candy. I created a horrible scene of blood and guts involving pumpkins in our driveway. But I never really fully believed it was right to do it.

It’s my least favorite time of year.  Every year, I get tired of telling people why I don’t like Halloween.  I am then accused of being a grinch, or a humbug, or a kid hater, or some religious nut, or a prude.  I am none of the above.  I simply see no useful reason why there’s a holiday called Halloween, or why anyone should celebrate it.

Let’s clear up a few things, between you and me, so you don’t have to send me an email or post some comment out of ignorance.

I didn’t grow up in a religious family. When I was growing up, we went out trick-or-treating every year. I have snapshots of memory of me wearing some kind of costume and knocking on doors, asking for candy.  It was a somewhat simpler time—I am a child of the (late) 60’s and 70’s.  We didn’t worry so much about gang violence or child abductions then.  We went out carrying little orange plastic pails decorated like jack-o-lanterns, dressed in store-bought Bugs Bunny or Hong Kong Phooey costumes, or homemade getups as a ghost or vampire.  We feasted on Pez, Bubblicious, M&M’s, and the coveted Reese’s Cups until we were sugar-buzzed and sick to our stomachs.

I was never abused as a child, or scared witless by some stranger on Halloween.  I don’t have a fear of clowns (it’s more common than you think) or costumes.  My biggest fear as a kid was X-rays; I could never keep my eyes open during the title sequence of the Six Million Dollar Man because there was an X-ray of a skull in it.  That just freaked me out.  I’ve never recovered—to this day I can’t watch House without getting nightmares.  You don’t see too many kids walking around on Halloween dressed up as X-rays so I think that’s safe.

I am not a dentist (I’m glad of that, because I know I couldn’t handle being regularly bitten by children).  I don’t have some bias against sugary treats.  My kids can chow down on candy as much as any privileged American children.  I’m also not against dressing up in costumes. 

If you’re a fan of Halloween, about now is when you ask me “so why do you hate Halloween if none of those things bother you?”

I don’t observe Halloween because Halloween is a feast of stupid self-indulgence. There’s nothing positive I can say about that day, no matter how much fun it may be to dress up, join a bunch of other people, walk door to door demanding candy, then go home and gorge yourself on it while watching horror movies.

In fact, I will give you seven reasons why Halloween is dumb.

1.  Halloween is a religious holiday.

If you didn’t know that, it’s because your only source of information must be ESPN and beer commercials.  Most people have some vague idea of where holidays like Christmas and Easter originate; they are religious holidays.  But you won’t find Halloween in the Bible.  Anywhere.  Trust me.  Or better yet, go read the Bible yourself and let me know when you find Halloween there.

Isn’t Halloween short for All Hallows Eve? Yes, it is. And isn’t All Hallows Eve the day before All Saints Day (All Hallows Day), which is November 1st?  Yes, it is.  Isn’t there another day called All Souls Day? Yes, there is, and if you knew that, you’re probably Roman Catholic. Here’s the progression: All Saints Day is a Catholic Feast day commemorating the saints who have entered Heaven.  It’s followed by All Souls Day, which commends us to pray for souls who are being purified in purgatory or have entered Heaven to commune with us who are still living on the Earth.

In short, Catholics believe that we can pray for the dead and the dead will pray for us.

Somewhere between the years 609 A.D. and 741 A.D., various Popes ordained a celebration of the Saints who have entered Heaven, and by 846, Pope Gregory IV declared November 1st to be All Saints Day.  In this way, Halloween is definitely a religious holiday, celebrating the souls of the dead.

Way back into what historians call “antiquity” (the time before recorded history), the Celtics and druids celebrated a Pagan holiday called Samhain (SOW-in), as the end of summer, halfway between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice.  They believed that the shortening of the days, and the advent of cold weather (it’s northern Europe after all, nasty climate and all) signified the dying of the world each year, and that evil spirits would walk the earth looking to possess or consume the living.  They would dance around bonfires and dress up in various costumes to “entertain the spirits”, to avoid being possessed.

Here we have the perfect confluence of beliefs:  the Catholic belief in the communion of the saints, and the Pagan belief in warding off evil spirits.  It only made sense for the Pope to declare November 1st as All Saints Day, since the church was trying to evangelize the heathens in northern Europe.  It was a whole lot easier to turn a pagan holiday into a Christian one than to give those people knowledge of the Bible.  Besides, back in those days, Bibles were rare and only possessed by rich clergymen and priests. Ignorance was the norm, and Christianity was too hard to explain to such ignorant savages. Better to just give them another holiday.

Halloween is celebrated by some small groups today as a religious holiday. Modern druids (the Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids) celebrate Samhain much as the ancients did.  One other group celebrates Halloween: the Church of Satan. They, in particular, love Halloween, because it celebrates dead things, dark things, and scary things.

Satanists embrace what this holiday has become, and do not feel the need to be tied to ancient practices. This night, we smile at the amateur explorers of their own inner darkness, for we know that they enjoy their brief dip into the pool of the “shadow world.” We encourage their tenebrous fantasies, the candied indulgence, and the wide-ranging evocation of our aesthetics (while tolerating some of the chintzy versions), even if it is but once a year. For the rest of the time, when those not of our meta-tribe shake their heads in wonder at us, we can point out that they may find some understanding by examining their own All Hallows Eve doings, but we generally find it simpler to just say: “Think of the Addams Family and you’ll begin to see what we’re about.”

I don’t want to celebrate anything dead, dying, dark or scary.  I don’t want my children celebrating those things.  I don’t care what you think about God and Jesus Christ, or miracles, angels, or Heaven.  We are here on this Earth full of living things, powered by a warm sun which provides 100% of the light on this planet, and we communicate and exist here among LIVING things.  We bury dead things, because they rot and deliquesce.

I’d just as soon have my kids line up roadkill on the highway and munch candy while cars flattened the dead animals into skid marks than make Halloween a religious holiday.

Satanists stand in opposition to God and everything God stands for.  They hold selfishness as the highest virtue.  Anything Satanists celebrate is something I automatically, by definition, stand against.  If you are a Christian, there’s only one reason you would celebrate Halloween, and that’s the bliss of ignorance.  Gain a little knowledge and stand for light and life, not darkness and death (even if it’s candy coated).

2.  Halloween is not a family holiday.

A 1992 study in consumer behavior at Rutgers University noted that:

Halloween in several respects appears to represent oppositional consumption patterns as compared to Christmas (and Thanksgiving as well). For example, there is no communal family meal, rather children independently go from house to house in search of candy. In contrast to the openness and informality of interactions during Christmas and Thanksgiving, Halloween is characterized by secretiveness and the formal “masking” of personal identity.

You don’t see movies made about busy executives struggling to get home for Halloween. You don’t see college students loading their cars to make the drive to grandma’s house for the traditional Halloween feast. They’re more likely buying beerand ordering pizza. Halloween is a day when we seek out the worst influences in our lives and encourage mayhem. When we get older, we stock up on candy, turn on the porch light, and await the parade of children while we hand out treats and pretend to be scared by little ghouls.

Halloween’s traditions involve going to the store and buying decorations, bats, vampires, and costumes. There may be an old-fashioned bobbing for apples or pumpkin-carving. But our memories typically involve some form of mischief, not hugs and grandma’s pumpkin pies. We don’t even watch football on Halloween.

3. Halloween is about greed.

On Christmas, we give our kids gifts, and encourage them to give gifts—or at least Christmas cards. On Easter, we remind our kids of the gifts that God gave, or talk about spring being a time of renewal. Only on Halloween do we encourage kids to take as much as they can, and give nothing back.

Getting, taking, wanting are the three themes of Halloween, and none of these are values I want to teach my children. Kids compare their hauls at the end of the night to see who got the most candy, and then wait until the other kids are distracted to steal their stash (just the Reese’s cups please).

Sure, yeah, they’re kids. They fight over anything and everything. They’re greedy little beings, and if it wasn’t for them being cute, we’d all consider giving them away. I get it, I have two boys. But there’s no value to actively promoting bad habits and behavior. There’s no way to turn “trick or treat!” into a polite request. I wouldn’t have my kids dress up as zombies on July 4th and go door to door saying “may I please have some candy, if you don’t mind, or I’ll toilet-paper your yard.” The implied threat of a “trick” is simply brutish.

Getting without earning, and taking without giving are values more in line with Satanists than Christians. I’d rather have my kids do without the candy than get it trick or treating. If they want to go, I, being a dad, am going to let them, but not enjoy it.

Retailers love Halloween.  It’s the run-up to Christmas shopping these days. Used to be, you wouldn’t see any Christmas decorations until Thanksgiving. Those days are long gone: now Halloween is the starting line for the big Christmas shopping rush.  Retailers would start at Labor Day if they could get away with it but back-to-school interferes in the northern states.

Stores love it when you wait till the last minute to get your small fries their costumes.

Back when I was in the business, I believe we brought in 16% of our annual sales in the three week run-up to Halloween. And as the holiday got closer, rather than feeling a need to drop prices, you’d start to get the sense that you could raise the prices on costumes rather than lower them (we didn’t). In fact, you’ve never quite seen desperation like that of the thirty year old on a Saturday, who has a costume party to go to that very night. It seemed like they’d pay anything for a reasonably acceptable costume. And so we’d cheer for procrastination.

It’s bad enough that Christmas, Easter, and every other holiday on the calendar has become a reason for a sale or commercialization, TV specials, gift-giving, and spending money. Halloween has little other purpose than retailers to find ways for you to hand over your cash to buy a new costume every year. God forbid that little Johnny wears the same thing twice, or you make your own homemade costume.

Even taken with a grain of salt and a healthy dose of charm, Halloween has become too commercialized.  When a holiday has no other reason than to take my money, and encourage my kids to take without giving anything back, I must abstain.  If you simply must participate in this greed-fest, a little knowledge will help you step away.

4.  Halloween is about displaying children as objects.

The word “objectifying” is popular these days. It means anything from gender stereotyping to sexual exploitation. If holidays are a lens magnifying our society, then Halloween’s microscope reveals a pretty filthy concoction. Kids are influenced by television, movies, and their parents.  Wardrobe malfunctions are common today, and former child stars like Miley Cyrus sell sex like candy. I know of a few parents who, years ago, actually decided to bring their young children to a Miley Cyrus concert, somehow believing it would be appropriate. The show was more like a stripper performance in a seedy red-light district: X-rated. And they didn’t give refunds.

Especially with young girls, Halloween costumes have become little X-rated versions of their older strippers-masquerading-as-singers.  You don’t have a be a Christian or have Christian values to hate this trend. Dr. Jennifer W. Shewmaker blogged

These girls are taking cues from our pornified culture that tells them that to present themselves as sexual objects gives them power. They dress, move, and act like women they’ve seen in sexy movies.

But these are real life girls who will be sitting next to these boys in the classroom tomorrow. These are girls who will be taking tests, writing papers, answering academic questions tomorrow. These are girls who know these boys, it’s not a fantasy or a daydream.

These are girls who have bought into the belief that their social power comes from their sex appeal. They have bought into the belief that to make themselves into the object of male desire is a fun and exciting thing. But what they, and many women and girls, don’t know is that when this idea becomes a reality, it is far from empowering.

Letting kids wear whatever they want is a really, really bad idea.  Dressing up as a little puppy or a cowboy is cute, but dressing up as a stripper is not.  Some parents go too far the other way:  they dress up their kids like some kind of decoration.  These parents dressed their daughter as a selfie (warning: language NSFW).  What kind of awful experience and lifelong complexes will that give the poor child?

If my kids want to dress up, they can do it anytime they want, but I hate celebrating one night of forced costumery. If your kids don’t want to dress up on Halloween, rent a good family movie, microwave some popcorn, and curl up on the couch with them.  Better yet, turn out the porch lights so you don’t have strangers coming to your door asking why your kids aren’t out there displaying themselves like trophies.

5.  Halloween is about secrecy and fear.

Masks obscure. Costumes disguise. It’s okay for kids to pretend they are someone else, when they play. It’s even fun to dress up. But take a night when everyone is in disguise, and it’s all about secrecy. And fear.

Trick-or-treat is traditionally at night. Lately, for safety’s sake, it’s during daylight hours. That’s a good thing, since it gives cars better visibility when kids are walking the streets in dark outfits. The reason it’s at night is because the dark is scary (I mean, it’s not because we shoot fireworks, right?). Scary animals like bats and spiders are symbols of Halloween. Scary music, images, movies, all tied in to Halloween. The purpose of Halloween is to scare people; for kids to scare adults, for adults to scare kids.

Elaborate haunted houses have become a $6 billion industry. No longer a small, neighborhood affair, attractions rivaling theme-park production values are all over the country. Scaring is big business. You can’t be scared if you know what’s about to happen. You make something really scary is not telling people what’s behind that dark door. You put them in the dark, disorient them, send hot moist air down their necks, pop a few pyrotechnics and flash-bangs, and jump out of the dark in a really creepy costume. It’s adrenaline city after that.

There’s something sinister about being scared. It’s a rush for sure, but there’s other ways to get a rush. Roller coasters, water slides, skydiving, and zip lining all come to mind.  But standing in the dark waiting to be scared into heart failure (and spending $40 to do it) is a thrill I can do without. If you’re a Christian, remember that fear is the opposite of faith. I can be scared and do something that builds my faith, or I can be scared for the sake of being scared.

There’s no value to experiencing fear for fear’s sake. It doesn’t overcome the fear by doing it (nobody goes through the same haunted house 20 times in a row, but they do ride Space Mountain 20 times in a row—I’ve done it). If you’re too ignorant to get your thrill some other way than a dark room with creepy people in costumes holding bloody knives, keep on celebrating Halloween.

6.  Halloween rewards bad behavior.

Do you know how trick-or-treat started? It was self defense. Back at the turn of the 20th century, Halloween was celebrated by Irish immigrants (remember, Roman Catholics), who went around in drunken mobs committing acts of vandalism and general mayhem. To combat this, merchants got together and started having festivals around the holiday. They targeted children, encouraging them toward less destructive behavior by handing out candy.

Halloween is a dumbed-down version of beast-night. Drunk teenagers and college students do plenty of damage. The insurance industry labels Halloween as the worst night of the year for vandalism. From simple pranks like toilet-papering your house, to serious crime like spray painting your car, Halloween is a time when crime is tolerated, and bad behavior is encouraged. Trick-or-treat is the training ground for more serious mischief as kids get older.

7.  For Christians: Halloween is incompatible with the Bible.

Only the Biblically illiterate would celebrate Halloween as a religious holiday. If you don’t believe in God or the Bible, I have no beef with you. Now you know you’re celebrating a religious festival based on a mixture of pagan, Catholic, and Satanist beliefs, dedicated to communing with the dead, focused on greed, self-gratification, objectifying children, secrecy, fear, and mayhem. If you’re okay with that, then keep on rockin’ Halloween—it’s your nickel.

If you call yourself a Christian, then I’ll safely assume you’re not interested in following pagan or Satanist beliefs. You are, in fact, following a Catholic feast day.  I’ll quote from Catholic Online:

Catholics celebrate All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day in the fundamental belief that there is a prayerful spiritual communion between those in the state of grace who have died and are either being purified in purgatory or are in heaven (the ‘church penitent’ and the ‘church triumphant’, respectively), and the ‘church militant’ who are the living.

Purgatory is malarchy. There’s no such place. You can’t pray the dead into Heaven any more than you can pray the dead sinner out of Hell. There are only two destinations for the departed soul in the Bible: Heaven and Hell. The idea of being forgiven through Christ in this life yet not being pure enough to enter Heaven in death is ridiculously flawed; for this to be true either Christ’s forgiveness is incomplete (it’s not, see John 3:16), or our living bodies carry our mortal sins beyond the grave for the elect in Christ (they don’t).

When you die, your eternal fate is cast. This is the whole reason Christians preach repentance in Christ. If you can put off your repentance until after you die and then “do time” in Purgatory until you’ve “repented enough” then nobody would enter Hell—they’d all be in Purgatory waiting for us to pray them out. The Bible doesn’t support this, and the Bible doesn’t support Halloween. There’s no “pray for the dead and the dead will pray for you.” Pray instead for the living and leave the dead to God.

1 John 4:18 reads “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”  1 John 4:8 says “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” If you celebrate Halloween, you celebrate fear.  If you have fear, you don’t fully have love.  And to the degree you are not full of love, you don’t know God.

If you celebrate Halloween, you are distancing yourself from God and everything God is, desires, and loves. In fact, Halloween is the opposite of God and His plan. The quickest way to ignorance is separation from God.

Halloween is the only day on the calendar dedicated to the ignorant. Embracing Halloween, you are embracing ignorance of God, ignorance of everything good, everything bright, warm, illuminated, and glad in your life. You are embracing fear, darkness, death and mayhem.

I cannot, and never will, enjoy or love Halloween. Better for me to skip it. Now you know why.

Follow Steve on Twitter @stevengberman.

The First TV contributor network is a place for vibrant thought and ideas. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of The First or The First TV. We want to foster dialogue, create conversation, and debate ideas. See something you like or don’t like? Reach out to the author or to us at [email protected]. 

October 31, 2023 at 06:47AM - Steve Berman
7 Reasons Why I Hate Halloween | Steve Berman
Read the full story by clicking this headline, at The First TV

Third Party candidates draw potential voters from both parties, but Robert F Kennedy Jr. is a special case. Logic tells you a former Democrat going independent will hurt Joe Biden’s chance, but it’s Donald Trump who may feel it the most. Sean Spicer explains why.

October 30, 2023 at 08:25AM - The First
WATCH: RFK Jr. Can Make Things Even Harder for Trump
Read the full story by clicking this headline, at The First TV

The mass exodus from Blue States continues. Bill explain why and where Americans are moving to.

October 30, 2023 at 08:22AM - The First
Millions of Americans are Ditching Blue States | BILL O’REILLY
Read the full story by clicking this headline, at The First TV

Kamala Harris spoke with 60 Minutes over the weekend where she insisted Joe Biden is “very much alive” despite numerous rumors about his health and ability to run for re-election.

“I’m not going to engage in that hypothetical, because Joe Biden is very much alive,” confirmed the Vice President.

Kamala Harris: "Joe Biden is very much alive." pic.twitter.com/Rz0Qtl2V2Y

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 29, 2023

Watch the moment above.

October 30, 2023 at 08:20AM - The First
TRAIN WRECK: Kamala Tells 60 Minutes That Joe Biden is ‘Alive’
Read the full story by clicking this headline, at The First TV

One of the trends on creator spaces like YouTube is “this is future me” segments commenting on content filmed in the past, or more likely, hawking a product sponsor. If “future me” 2023 had a message for us in 2014, it’s that the threats in Iran, Gaza, Taiwan and Ukraine were tests to see the West’s reaction, so that plans can be calibrated for their real intentions. Our opponents were managing their OODA loop while we played political footsie.

Just so you know, an OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) loop is one way strategy is adjusted in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment (VUCA). VUCA and OODA deal with what former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld called the “unknown unknowns.” OODA is also used for a variety of other purposes, including air dogfighting (you can look it up yourself). Our 2014 adversaries were making overt moves to remove unknown unknowns, observing reactions, orienting their strategy around those, then deciding to act toward their goals.

The West, led by the U.S., was being tested, and we are continuing to be tested in 2023 for whatever’s next, though we have to deal with today before we find out. Let me focus on a few examples.

Iran was testing the West’s reaction to its nuclear ambitions. In 2014, the JCPOA (the “Iran Deal”) was entering its final negotiations, and on paper, Iran appeared to be ready for compliance. But as the Mossad’s 2018 Tehran heist evidence shows, Iran was cheating, big time. Tehran was planning to split its nuclear program into an overt, compliant side and a covert, bomb-making side. Meanwhile, Tehran had uses for the cash freed up by JCPOA, mostly funding proxies like Hizbollah and terrorist groups, along with buying influence in Iraq.

Iran also involved itself in Yemen’s war after the Houthi coup d’etat in that nation. The Houthis have been a thorn in the side of Saudi Arabia and have harassed American interests in the gulf for the last nearly 10 years. Just a week ago, a U.S. Navy destroyerintercepted missiles fired by Houthis that may have been intended for Israel. Now, President Joe Biden has moved an entire carrier strike group to the region to deal with potential threats.

Hamas used 2014 to test its tunnel, kidnapping and rocket strategy against Israeli defenses. Hamas was able to measure how many targets Iron Dome could defend at once, increase both the range and accuracy of its rockets, and gauge the effectiveness of the IDF’s ground strategy. Israel’s strategy of “mowing the grass” was the result, where Hamas was largely left alone to build its tunnels, using a black market economy, cash from Iran and Qatar, and recycled materials from Israel’s operations.

Israel’s high-tech fences and sensors didn’t deter Hamas from planning its 2023 operation, and in fact gave Israel way too much of a sense of safety. Remote operated guns and cameras fell prey to low-tech drones carrying grenades, while sparsely manned checkpoints supposedly backed by what the U.S. calls Quick Reaction Forces (“QRF”) were overwhelmed when communications were disrupted. What didn’t change was Hamas’ commitment to destroying Israel, using terrorism, partisan-style fighting, and the more powerful domains of lawfare, disinformation, and media manipulation to delegitimize the professional army and democratically-elected government of their enemy.

China was flying relatively high in 2014, with its domestic Belt and Road program and foreign investment in ports and infrastructure. The PRC engaged its first direct talks with Taiwan since 1949. These talks were mere tests of the political will of Taiwan to submit to Beijing. The results were a backlash was Taiwanese rejected any kind of deal. So Beijing pursued a massive military buildup and policy of continual harassment until politics in Taipei change.

“Let me reiterate that peace is the only option across the Taiwan Strait,” said [Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen], who will step down after two terms in office. “Maintaining the status quo, as the largest common denominator for all sides, is the critical key to ensuring peace.”

The PRC has been testing the West’s commitment to Taiwan, and therefore influencing Taipei’s politics, since 2014. While America is distracted elsewhere, they may continue their opportunistic approach until they can build a force capable of a cross-strait invasion. What hasn’t changed is Xi Jinping’s commitment to bringing Taiwan back into Beijing’s fold, either by political, or by military means. China’s own poor economic situation won’t alter that objective, and in fact Taiwan’s success in the semiconductor market might even accelerate their efforts.

And there’s Russia. Joe Biden said in 2014, he looked into Vladimir Putin’s eyes and said, “Mr. Prime Minister, I’m looking into your eyes, and I don’t think you have a soul.” In 2008, Sen. John McCain, in a presidential debate with President Barack Obama, said, as reported by New York Magazine, 

“I looked into his eyes and saw three letters, a K, a G, and a B.” (McCain may have borrowed this laugh line from Colin Powell.) McCain added, presciently, “Watch Ukraine. Ukraine, right now, is in the sights of Vladimir Putin.”

McCain was right. Biden was right. As much as former President Donald Trump thinks he could have avoided the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by making a deal with Putin, it’s unlikely that would have deterred the invasion. Putin was playing Trump as a patsy. Or worse, Putin was playing off Trump’s obsession with staying in power, and reinforced Trump’s belief that Ukraine was part of a Biden conspiracy network against him. Many Trump supporters still believe that.

Perhaps, if McCain had won in 2008, things would be different today. In 2012, Mitt Romney was mocked by Obama, who in a debate said, “the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years,” referring to Romney saying Russia is the biggest potential threat facing America. 

Obama was wrong about Russia; he was wrong about Iran; he was wrong about Hamas; he was wrong about China.

I suppose if 2023 future America had a message for 2014, it’s “don’t listen to Barack Obama.” Unfortunately, that message was delivered, but we just didn’t listen.

But we can listen now. Our adversaries continue to test us. Israel isn’t done fighting for its existence. Ukraine has a long war ahead to take back territory Russia illegally annexed. Taiwan needs assurance that it won’t be abandoned by the West when China makes its next move. Iran has to be dealt with.

The West is being tested. Make no mistake, if we abandon any of our allies, because we think America is not affected by wars in Ukraine, or in Israel, or Taiwan, or that Iran isn’t our enemy (listen to the Ayaltollahs, who say we are their enemy!), we will be worse off in the future than we are today. If we had listened in 2014—if Israel had listened to its own intelligence—we would not be facing most of the crises we now face, and many who are dead would be alive.

If we don’t listen today, our adversaries will add that to their OODA loop, and next time, we won’t have the same advantages we do today. They will get stronger, smarter, and more adaptable, while we navel-gaze and spew hatred against fellow Americans. We must not fail the test today. That’s the message 2023 has for 2014, and we had better listen to it today, or 2032 America will be calling to tell us our own sons and daughters are dying because we missed it again.

Follow Steve on Twitter @stevengberman.

The First TV contributor network is a place for vibrant thought and ideas. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of The First or The First TV. We want to foster dialogue, create conversation, and debate ideas. See something you like or don’t like? Reach out to the author or to us at [email protected]. 

October 30, 2023 at 07:20AM - Steve Berman
2014’s Message to 2023: Obama was Wrong, Wrong, Wrong | Steve Berman
Read the full story by clicking this headline, at The First TV

A Gallup poll taken a few weeks ago asked “Thinking about the war between Israel and Hamas, should the U.S. government _____?” Overall, 65 percent of Americans agreed that the government should publicly support Israel, which later President Biden made abundantly clear by his speech and actions. But the breakdown of those numbers is troubling.

Among Gen Z/millennials, support for Israel in the war with Hamas was at 48%, with 37% wanting to say nothing, and 12% for public criticism of Israel. This stands in stark contrast with the Silent/Greatest generation, where criticism is a nearly non-existent opinion, and Baby Boomers, 83% of whom say the government should publicly support Israel, with only 3% favoring public criticism. Among Gen Xers, 63% agree with our government publicly supporting Israel, and 10% are for public criticism.

The trend is definitely that the younger generations have less support for Israel, and I would agree as to the reason, with (of all people) Yaseen al-Sheikh, a Palestinian-American writing in Foreign Policy online.

Part of this is because Israel, once a bipartisan cause, has now become strongly associated with the right. Years of mutual infatuation between the U.S. Republican Party and Israel’s far-right Likud party culminated in the Trump administration’s internationally condemned decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Israel to the disputed city of Jerusalem. In turn, the recent rise of a progressive flank within the Democratic Party has produced politicians such as Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Pramila Jayapal, who are both willing to openly criticize the nature of the Israeli state.

The embassy move was, in my opinion, decades overdue, since Congress mandated it on November 5, 1995. But the State Department’s hive of diplomatic officers and analysts, buttressed by pundits who always believe a hellstorm will follow such “provocations” (yes, scare-quotes), kept successive presidents from Bill Clinton to Barack Obama renewing the delay provision built in to the law. It took Trump, who cared not what anyone said (his entire presidency was a middle-finger to anyone who tried to tell him anything), to allow the law to take effect. Israelis were delighted, while Palestinians were, in fact, provoked.

Netanyahu is a divisive figure, both in Israel and in the U.S. He single-handedly brought U.S.-style political campaigning to Israel. And his political survivorship has led to the most extreme religious fringe government in Israel’s history. al-Sheikh wrote his piece in July, 2023, before the 10/7 horrific bloodlust by Hamas.

Now, Israel’s politics have coalesced around dealing with Hamas and defanging Gaza. The political divisions around Netanyahu’s government have dissolved into an emergency unity government. After the war, Israeli voters will deal with Netanyahu and his fringe, which rule not by majority but by chicanery in a deeply divided Knesset and polity. I think Israel will fix that, when things settle down.

But the attitudes of young Americans going into this war were decidedly with the perceived underdogs, regardless of their motivations, intentions, or their own racist, homophobic, misogynistic policies. Hamas, if it were ruling more than a 26-mile long, 6-mile wide strip of Mediterranean coastland, would apply its principles of government (total control) to all who lived under its jackboot. I suppose then you’d see the “intersectional” crowd yearn for Israel, where gay marriage, LGBT rights, and women’s rights are part of the fabric of society and law.

I wanted to find out whether the young always supported the Palestinian cause because youth generally root for the underdog. But over time, I see that support for Israel since 1967 has grown, not decreased, according to figures published by the Virtual Jewish Library. It’s only since 2016—Trump’s ascension—that support for Palestinians started to really increase, mostly among the younger generations. This, to me, means that these Americans identified supporting Israel with the Christian evangelical, MAGA-loving group, and therefore #resistance demanded that Israel not be supported.

Online, students lament that their generation “hates Jews.”

A new axis of evil—Big Tech, social media companies, and China—has taken the once-fringe position that Jews are undeserving of a homeland, and is now pushing the idea of their mass slaughter via shoddy animation and beautiful women hosting “explainer” videos. And it’s trickling down onto t-shirts and “cute” laptop stickers. 

It’s cool to promote hate.

Now that goes for both sides—MAGAs are not known for being friendly to foreigners. But the current bogeyman for much of the young, cool, very-online left is to hate Israel and anyone who loves Israel. This conveniently encompasses both evangelical MAGAs and most Jews.

Just like the MAGAs put up with Nick Fuentes and tiki-torch carrying neo-Nazis shouting “Jews will not replace us!” young college kids put up with baby-beheading Hamas terrorists because they don’t want to think through the consequences of a Palestine “from the river to the sea.” It means “without Jews,” or in the end, a “final solution” to deal with the people who have been living in that land for 4,000 unbroken years. It ultimately means what some have posted online: ovens.

Does this mean that Millennials and Gen-Z people want a return to ovens (disregard those who are avowed Holocaust-deniers)? Heavens. no! It does mean that our divisions have led to an absence of critical thought, and a reduction to reaction to the “other side,” or the strawmen and caricatures of who people think are the other side.

Certainly, there is suffering in Gaza. But until the Gazans—Palestinians—decide to throw out their current government, with or without help from the Israelis, that will continue. Israel will right its political ship, because most Israeli voters have been shaken awake by 10/7.

America, however, is left as divided as ever. And as always, a non-trivial percentage of us blame the Jews.

Follow Steve on Twitter @stevengberman.

The First TV contributor network is a place for vibrant thought and ideas. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of The First or The First TV. We want to foster dialogue, create conversation, and debate ideas. See something you like or don’t like? Reach out to the author or to us at [email protected]. 

October 30, 2023 at 05:44AM - Steve Berman
ISRAEL: Why Young Americans Side With Hamas | Steve Berman
Read the full story by clicking this headline, at The First TV

A visibly confused Joe Biden uttered the word “period” at the end of his sentence this week when delivering an incoherent statement at the State Dinner with the leader of Australia.

“Uh, at the going down… of the sun… And inna morning, we will remember them. Period. Look folks…’

WATCH – Confused Joe reads the ‘period’ from his pre-written, incoherent address.

“Uh, at the going down… of the sun… And inna morning, we will remember them. Period. Look folks…’ pic.twitter.com/3u9ObEFVAX

— The First (@TheFirstonTV) October 26, 2023

Watch the moment above.   

October 27, 2023 at 10:53AM - The First
BONUS VIDEO: Incoherent Biden Spews More Gibberish at the State Dinner
Read the full story by clicking this headline, at The First TV

A new report from the Wall Street Journal claims Hamas fighters trained for the October 7 attack from inside Iran. Bill breaks it down.

October 27, 2023 at 10:45AM - The First
WSJ Reports That Iran Trained Hamas Attackers | BILL O’REILLY
Read the full story by clicking this headline, at The First TV

Congressman Chip Roy of Texas joins Dana to talk about the impending business in the House of Representatives as well as expectations for newly appointed House Speaker Mike Johnson.

October 27, 2023 at 10:44AM - The First
WATCH: Who Is The New House Speaker Mike Johnson?
Read the full story by clicking this headline, at The First TV