The Roundup

Israelis and Palestinians call for the release of the hostages, Russia investigates its most patriotic singer Shaman, some more backlash against Jackson Hinkle, and Donald Trump's financial problems

Israel and Palestine

Both Israelis and Palestinians have held their protests calling for the release of the hostages that have been held by Hamas since the October 7 terrorist attack. In Tel Aviv protesters have taken to blocking a major highway to demand a hostage deal.

In Der Balah, Gaza a group of Palestinians held their own protest to demand for their return to the northern part of the Gaza Strip. There was at least one sign spotted that also called for freeing the hostages.

In the town of Kahn Yunis the Palestinians there are calling on the leaders on both sides of the conflict for a ceasefire.

There were protests in other countries as well. Today, on the first day of February, a group of activists who are siding with the Palestinians and the Houthis pirates in Yemen had blocked an intersection in Washington, DC right outside of the Holocaust Museum.

This is too reminiscent of that attempt to have a pro-Palestinian protest inside of the Holocaust Museum but was canceled after facing intense online criticism on social media. At least this time these protesters held their protest outside of the museum but it's still incredibly bad optics to hold a protest anywhere near that museum. When you consider the fact that the only thing that these events have in common are the presence of the Jews, these protesters are opening themselves to charges that they are antisemites. What's more, that protest reeks of yet another Kremlin psyop. (Remember that Hamas and the Houthis are backed by Iran, who is aligned with Russia.)

If you support the Palestinians, Hamas, Yemenis, and/or Houthis and you want to have a protest outside of the US Capitol building or the White House, that's fine because those are places where foreign policy is made. If you want to have a protest outside of the Israeli embassy, that's also fine since Benjamin Netanyahu seems hellbent on indiscriminately bombing Gaza without regards for the civilians living there. But leave the Holocaust Museum out of the protests. That museum only exists to educate people about the Holocaust. That museum doesn't make public policy and it has zero to do what is currently going on in Gaza.

As for what has happened in Gaza since the bombing began, according to BBC News’ Verify service, new analysis show that at least half of the buildings in Gaza have either been damaged or destroyed.

In a previous post I mentioned that some of those who are pro-Palestinian are only siding with the Palestinians because they hate the Jews. This recent post on Twitter/X by an account called Defund Israel Now is yet another example. It includes a photo of Adolf Hitler while calling him “the most slandered man in human history.” It also goes on to say that a real holocaust is happening in Gaza that the Jews doesn't want anyone to talk about.

The idea that Hitler was slandered is so ludicrous that it's not really worth responding to in too much detail. Who Adolf Hitler really was has been well documented ever since Hitler wrote his own book, Mein Kampf, before he obtained political power in Germany. You can do your own Google search to find out why people still revile him to this day. This post proves yet again that those who are concerned about thr Palestinians’ plight should be very cautious about who they follow online and what protests to attend in real life. Some of these pro-Palestinian groups are only in the movement because it gives them the opportunity to hate the Jews and to recruit other Jew haters to their ranks.

You Really Can't Make This Stuff Up

Shaman, who was born Yaroslav Yurievich Dronov, is a very popular singer in Russia who is very strongly pro-Putin and he sings ultranationalist pop songs. He is also frequently the butt of snarky critiques on the NFKRZ YouTube channel, such as this one.

Last year Shaman had a major hit in Russia with this ultranationalist pop song called “Ya Russkiy,” which is translated as “I am Russian.” Here's the video, which has this hilarious ending that includes a scene supposedly set in Hollywood with an African American couple driving their car and passionately singing as the “Ya Russkiy” song plays on the car radio and space aliens who somehow get a transmission of the song and they start busting out some moves.

While I can't speak for the space aliens, as an American I can easily say that I have never heard of any radio stations in the US playing that song nor have I heard it played in public places like bars, restaurants, shopping malls, grocery stores, street festivals, etc. “Ya Russkiy” is simply not a thing here.

Shaman has done other songs that are just as full of bombastic Russian patriotism as “Ya Russkiy.” You'd think that with his intense pro-Russia patriotic songs he would never have to worry about the Russian government ever investigating him. Well you'd think wrong.

Apparently the Ministry of Internal Affairs is investigating Shaman for doing the “Ya Russkiy” video on charges that it has LGBTQ propaganda, which is prohibited under Russian law. According to this article (which is in Russian but you can get it translated instantly if you use the Google Chrome browser), a local activist had submitted the paperwork requesting an investigation saying that Shaman is promoting LGBTQ propaganda in his “Ya Russkiy” video because Shaman wears eyeliner. Other indicators that “Ya Russkiy” promotes LGBTQ propaganda include a scene where men in the audience applaud his performance and they use their arms to help him crowdsurf, which increases the chance that they could touch Shaman's genitals. Man, you can't even make this stuff up if you've tried. 🤣

Vladimir Putin or Bust

Next month there will be the presidential election in Russia. Vladimir Putin is running for reelection. If he wins and he probably will in the upcoming rigged election, he would be serving for a fifth term. According to this BBC News story, Putin faces challengers who are far less formidable than Alexi Nalvany was in in the last election. (By the way, Nalvany won't be participating this time. He's busy serving time in prison on very dubious charges.) On top of it, Putin has been given far more airtime on Kremlin-controlled television that all of his rivals combined.

The most interesting part of the BBC News story is when the reporter goes to a town called Rzhev, located 140 miles from Moscow, and the people interviewed said that they want to see change happen but they don't want to change the leader.

At this point you might as well abandon hope that another candidate will defeat Putin in the upcoming election.

Killing Dad For Trump

This is an incredibly grim story. A 32-year-old man named Justin Mohn was arrested in Pennsylvania and charged with killing his 68-year-old father Michael Mohn, decapitating his father, making a video where he showed off his father's severed head, then uploading that video on to YouTube, where it remained online for several hours before YouTube removed it.

Justin Mohn had been living with his parents and he had been fired from a series of jobs since he left Pennsylvania State University in 2014.

On the surface it was an incredibly gruesome crime that seemed so incredibly senseless. But, in that same YouTube video, Justin Mohn called his father a traitor because the father was a federal employee and he called for the deaths of all federal officials. He also attacked the Joe Biden Administration, Black Lives Matter, the LGBTQ community, and antifa activists.

In addition, he had released a self-published book on Amazon in 2017 where he included the transcript of a letter to then-President Donald Trump warning of “a peaceful revolution helped led by the author if positive change does not come to America and the world soon.”

While it would be ludicrous to directly blame Donald Trump for that murder, the fact is that for years Trump had encouraged violence among his followers. In 2020 ABC News had found 54 criminal cases where Trump's name was invoked in direct connection with violent acts, threats of violence or allegations of assault. Those acts that invoked Trump's name included a white man assaulting a Latino gas station attendant, a man who threatened to kill a Syrian-born man, and three men who were accused of plotting to bomb a largely-Muslim apartment complex.

There is a fear that Donald Trump is normalizing political violence in America and Justin Mohn's killing his own father is the latest example of this.

Had Donald Trump never served one term as president and/or Trump had never used violent rhetoric, there's a chance that all those violent incidents done in his name would have never happened and it's also very likely that Michael Mohn would still be alive.

The Backlash Against the Gen Z Lord Haw-Haw Jackson Hinkle

Ever since October 7 Jackson Hinkle has gone from posting trash about the Russian invasion of Ukraine to posting trash about the Israel-Hamas War and he has gained a huge number of followers as a result. (Although he ended up losing his Miss Russia fiancee, who then spilled the tea about Hinkle, including confirming that Hinkle actually named his own company Fake News LLC.)

The good news is that there are some Muslims who have seen through Hinkle’s support of the Palestinians, did their own research, and found out exactly what kind of person Jackson Hinkle really is. I found this video on the The Muslim Metaphysician YouTube channel where the person did just that and learned about Hinkle’s inconsistency regarding Muslims where Hinkle denounces the Israeli bombing of Palestinians (many of whom are Muslims) yet has denied the Chinese government's persecution of the Uyghurs (who are also Muslims) and considers the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to be a hero despite killing so many Syrians, including Muslim ones. He is urging his fellow Muslims to stop paying attention to Hinkle and it's an excellent takedown of the modern day Lord Haw-Haw. I especially recommend this video to any Muslim you might know who is a follower of Jackson Hinkle.

There's a shorter video about Hinkle by the Renew Democracy Initiative YouTube channel that starts off with “If you haven't heard of this guy, well congratulations and my sincere apologies for bringing him to your attention.” 🤣

The Money Losses of Donald Trump

Ever since Donald Trump blasted onto the world stage back in the 1980s with the publication of his first book, The Art of the Deal, the one thing that he used to brag about the most was his claim that he's a billionaire. He was so protective of that claim that he used to sue people who questioned his billionaire status. Now he's hemorrhaging money like crazy.

A few years ago writer E. Jean Carroll came forward with her claim that Donald Trump had raped her in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman department store back in 1996. She even kept the outfit she wore when it happened. She never washed it so the assailant's DNA is still on it. (Trump had refused to submit his DNA, which could have exonerated him had he really been innocent.) When Trump defamed her in public, she filed a lawsuit against him and she won $5 million last year. Trump publicly defamed her again after the verdict so she sued again. Last week a jury awarded $83.3 million to her.

That sounds like a lot of money, especially to a billionaire with a history of multiple bankruptcies. Yale University professor Timothy Snyder tweeted “Trump doesn't have $83 million in cash. Putin does, though. So relevant authorities, please pay attention.”

Vladimir Putin has financially helped Donald Trump in the past, especially when the banks in the US stopped lending Trump money. It wouldn't be a surprise if Putin decided to help Trump again.

There are further indicators that Donald Trump's money situation has grown dire. Apparently money from Trump's own political action committees (PAC) isn't being used just for his campaign. It was revealed that last year Trump had spent more than $50 million from his PAC and super PAC on legal fees. Trump biographer David Cay Johnson said that the reliance on donations to his PAC to pay his legal bills raises questions about Trump's self-professed wealth. As he puts it:

“Remember Donald used to tell us he was worth $10 billion? He should be rolling in money if that’s the case. And evidently, he has to depend on begging for money from people,” he told CNN on Tuesday.

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