"Prized" Hostages "Traded" in Gaza, Chinese Schools Close for "Mystery Pneumonia"...COVID 2.0? Only Nation to Ban Smoking...Decides They Like Money (The Five for 11/28/23)
Plus, Conor McGregor facing criminal charges in Ireland for...a tweet? Trump's claim on using the military to quell domestic violence.
Hey, welcome to The Five.
One note before we begin. Last month, reporter Megan Basham (who I’m friendly with on Twitter—full disclosure) uncovered that Christianity Today (another disclosure—a former client of mine, with whom I will no longer work with due to their unethical handling of sexual harassment) was made up of a staff that donated extensively to Democratic candidates.
Old school journalism rules dictate that the media NOT make political contributions.
Christianity Today can do what they want…I’m not a vendor or a customer anymore, and it’s not a publication I would encourage you to spend money supporting.
I do want to disclose that I made a $1 donation to Andrew Yang in 2019 (simply to keep him on the debate stage longer—I knew Yang had no chance, but I thought he was an important part of the electoral discussion).
Going forward, I pledge not to make political donations or endorsements of any kind at the national level (local candidates I don’t report on are another matter) out of respect for the readership of The Five.
With that being said…let’s dive into the news.
[one]
UFC Superstar/Business Mogul Conor McGregor could be facing criminal charges in Ireland…for a tweet.
Conor McGregor has been accused of stoking anti-immigrant sentiment and inciting riots in Dublin after sharing anti-immigrant remarks on social media.
"Ireland, we are at war" the UFC fighter said on X—the social network formerly known as Twitter—on Wednesday. The declaration followed a series of posts about Taioseach Leo Varadkar urging migrants to register to vote, a decision that was enacted in 2008.
"Imagine a mega power nation allowing this absolute foolishness!!" McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) wrote. "A real showing of the lack of care they have for the common Irish citizen."
On Thursday, riots broke out across Dublin after three children and a teacher were injured in a stabbing outside a school. Social media posts have linked the attack to an "Algerian immigrant," but this has not been confirmed by the Gardai (Irish National Police) or Irish officials.
There have been 34 arrests following a night of looting, arson and clashes with police. In a statement, Gardai commissioner Drew Harris blamed the unrest on a "lunatic, hooligan faction driven by far-right ideology."
The school attack follows the conviction of Jozef Puska, a Slovak national who was sentenced to life in prison on November 17 for murdering Ashling Murphy. The teacher was stabbed five times while jogging along a canal near her home in Tullamore, Ireland, in January 2022.
This is a good reminder that the right to free speech, including criticizing the government, is not guaranteed worldwide like it is in the U.S.
In 1798, the federal government (illegally) tried to outlaw speech against the government…and Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions pushed back against these on the state level. The U.S. was saved from top-down federal tyranny only because state and local governments in this country have power…which is not the case in all nations.
As for Ireland’s reckoning with immigrant violence, it feels like we’re only on chapter one of that saga.
If you’re a fight fan, McGregor is set to return in 2024, after a two-year layoff due to a compound leg fracture.
[two]
Former President Trump says he will deploy the U.S. military to stop riots if he regains the Oval Office.
Yahoo reports:
Campaigning in Iowa this year, Donald Trump said he was prevented during his presidency from using the military to quell violence in primarily Democratic cities and states.
Calling New York City and Chicago “crime dens,” the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination told his audience, “The next time, I’m not waiting. One of the things I did was let them run it and we’re going to show how bad a job they do,” he said. “Well, we did that. We don’t have to wait any longer.”
Trump has not spelled out precisely how he might use the military during a second term, although he and his advisers have suggested they would have wide latitude to call up units. While deploying the military regularly within the country's borders would be a departure from tradition, the former president already has signaled an aggressive agenda if he wins, from mass deportations to travel bans imposed on certain Muslim-majority countries.
A law first crafted in the nation’s infancy would give Trump as commander in chief almost unfettered power to do so, military and legal experts said in a series of interviews.
In my opinion…the statement is odd, considering the fact that Trump had the power to this during the riots in 2020, when rioters caused $2 billion in damages nationwide, and $50 million to my former home of Kenosha.
The polls appear to favor Trump in the upcoming election…but it’s unclear on how campaigning on moves he should have made last time in office will help his chances of regaining the title of POTUS.
[three]
The only country in the world to ban smoking…decided they like money more than they hate tobacco.
As any smoker will tell you, quitting tobacco isn’t easy – and it’s something New Zealand’s new government just isn’t prepared to do right now.
A year after passing a world-leading smoking ban designed to save thousands of lives and prevent new generations of young adults from smoking, New Zealand has announced a u-turn to help pay for tax cuts, infuriating public health officials and anti-tobacco groups.
Introduced last year, the anti-smoking law banned the sale of tobacco to anyone born or after January 1, 2009.
The legislation was due to be implemented by July 2024 and would have included harsh penalties for violations such as fines of up to NZ$150,000 ($96,000).
The country’s new Prime Minister Chris Luxon, whose conservative National Party entered a coalition alliance with the populist New Zealand First party and the libertarian ACT New Zealand party following elections in October, defended the controversial move, saying he disagreed with parts of the policy and argued that a ban would result in a black-market boom.
Luxon said smoking rates in the country had been on the decline and reiterated that he remained committed to reducing tobacco use.
Speaking to CNN affiliate Radio New Zealand, Luxon said his government would continue education programs and “encourage people to take up vapes as a cessation tool.”
Two things:
A). Kids, just don’t start with the cigarettes.
and,
B). Governments…this is way over the line. You can’t nanny state this hard. Poor diet kills more people than cancer sticks…why not ban McDonalds? Oh, because that would be weird and an overreach?
Thought so.
[four]
A mysterious strain of pneumonia has filled hospitals with underage patients and closed schools in China.
China, still reeling from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, now faces a new threat: a mysterious pneumonia outbreak sweeping through schools. This alarming situation, reminiscent of the early days of the COVID crisis, has led to a surge in hospitalizations, casting an ominous shadow over the country's healthcare system.
Hospitals in Beijing and Liaoning, 500 miles northeast, are struggling to cope with an influx of sick children, straining their resources to the breaking point. Local media reports suggest that school closures are imminent due to the outbreak. The affected children present with unusual symptoms, including lung inflammation and high fever, but noticeably lack the typical cough and other signs associated with flu, RSV, and other respiratory illnesses.
Isn’t this…uhh…how COVID started out?
[five]
Finally, “prized” Israeli hostages are now being traded between terrorist groups in southern Gaza.
The terrorist group Hamas transferred custody of a 10-month-old Israeli hostage and his family to another terrorist group in southern Gaza, the Israeli Defense Forces said Tuesday.
The IDF's Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee announced the transfer late Monday night. The family consists of the infant, Kfir; his 4-year-old brother Ariel, and their parents, Yarden, 34, and Shiri, 32. The IDF did not specify precisely which organization they have been transferred to.
"Children and babies under the age of one who have not seen the light of day for more than fifty days are being held captive by Hamas, [who] treats some of them like loot and in some places has transferred them to other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip," Adraee wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
"For example, the Bibas family, the two red-haired children ‘The Reds,’ who were kidnapped from their home in Nir Oz by a member of the Hamas terrorist organization (pictured) and are being held in the Khan Yunis area by one of the Palestinian factions."
The Bibas family was kidnapped in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, when murderous Hamas terrorists rampaged through the southern part of the country and killed at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their homes and at a music festival. Some 240 Israelis and foreign nationals were captured by the terrorists and taken back to Gaza as hostages.
UPDATE: More hostages are being released today, but it’s not known if the “Trophy Red” family are among them.
Until the next one,
-sth