Cease Fire in Lebanon ?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

     June 12, 2024 One of the largest missile attacks on Israel by Lebanon:  On June 12, 2024, Hezbollah launched over 200 rockets and multiple drones into northern Israel, marking one of the largest attacks in the 8-month conflict. This massive barrage, which caused widespread fires and targeted military sites like the Meron air traffic control base, was retaliation for an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon that killed:

Abdullah on right side of picture:

         Senior Hezbollah commander Taleb Abdullah. “The most important Hezbollah official to have been killed” since the October war, according to a source quoted by AFP, Hajj Abou Taleb “has disappointed no front since his early youth,” said Hassan Fadlallah, a Hezbollah MP.

Al Jazeerq and most all other countries are reporting that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, United States President Donald Trump says.  I haven't heard such a story Trump is announcing agreed upon by Israel, though.  Just because Trump says something is not inclusive always to what Netanyahu thinks best for Israel and Netanyahu does not go along with all Trump says.  

The truce will take effect at 5pm US East Coast time (21:00 GMT) on Thursday, Trump wrote on social media after speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.

Now several hours later, Israel has not confirmed a cease fire as yet.  Netanyahu said that Israeli forces would remain in Lebanon within an “extensive” security zone and that he wanted Hezbollah “dismantled” as part of a future agreement with Lebanon.  Trump later said the Lebanese government would begin working with Hezbollah to achieve that goal.

Pictures like this are hard to swallow but make a point of why Israel had not signed this peace agreement making Trump's comment a truth, and why.  Israel will be hit over and over again if restraints aren't on the peace agreement.  

About an hour ago, says CBC, Israel agrees to 10-day ceasefire with Lebanon, but says its troops will stay on the ground.  U.S. State Department says truce meant to provide opportunity for long-term peace talks.  

The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said strikes killed nine people across the southern district of Tyre over the past two days, including a paramedic.  At least eight people were killed and 33 others wounded in an Israeli strike on the town of Ghaziyeh in the Zahrani area of southern Lebanon on Thursday, Lebanon’s state news agency NNA reported.

“These two Leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries, they will formally begin a 10 Day CEASEFIRE at 5 P.M. EST,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.  He says things like this of what he wants to happen but are not really verified when he says them.  It's a habit of his.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed the announcement in a post on X, describing the ceasefire as “a central Lebanese demand we have pursued since the first day of the war” and the primary goal of Tuesday’s meeting between Lebanese and Israeli officials in the US.

Lebanon was drawn into the US-Israeli war on Iran on March 2 when Hezbollah, the Iran-aligned Lebanese armed group, fired rockets at Israel in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 in an Israeli strike on the opening day of the war on Iran.  

Lebanon has been taken over by Hezbollah.  Hezbollah does not formally rule Lebanon as a single party, but it acts as a powerful "state within a state," exerting dominant influence over the Lebanese government, security, and infrastructure. As a major political party with parliamentary seats and cabinet positions since 1992 and 2005 respectively, it operates as a, if not the, key power broker.

Hezbollah has stated it will continue attacking Israel until Israel halts its operations in Gaza.  Hezbollah has established strong military presence in southern Lebanon, storing rockets in civilian sites, building tunnels into Israel, and obstructing United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon's (UNIFIL) access.

Israeli forces responded with a ferocious campaign that has since killed more than 2,196 people in Lebanon and wounded thousands more. Israel has also issued forced evacuation orders covering roughly 15 percent of Lebanese territory.

Resource:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/12/hezbollah-rains-rockets-on-israel-after-senior-commander-killed

https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1417115/who-is-taleb-abdallah-the-hezbollah-commander-assassinated-in-jwaya.html

Pharasees (Jewish) Criticized By Hegseth of Trump's Governing Body

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

                    Pete Hegseth b: June 6, 1980, 45 years old.  He's a former television personality who has served since 2025 as the 29th United States secretary of defense.   Hegseth studied politics at Princeton University, where he was the publisher of The Princeton Tory, a conservative student newspaper.^[3] In 2003, he was commissioned as an infantry officer in the Minnesota Army National Guard, serving at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.^[4] Hegseth worked for several organizations after leaving Iraq, including as an executive director at Vets For Freedom^[5] and Concerned Veterans for America. He became a contributor to Fox News in 2014. Hegseth served as an advisor to President Donald Trump after supporting his campaign in 2016. From 2017 to 2024,  I don't see any background in Biblical studies other than him being:   Religious Affiliation: Christian:  Hegseth is aligned with the CREC, a denomination known for its, and, according to, a "strong hierarchy" and rigid, patriarchal, and socially conservative beliefs.

Ah yes, Hethseth now criticizing Pharasees (Jews) through the New Testament of Jesus.  The commentator on CNN had it wrong; he wasn't criticizing Jesus;  he was referring to the Pharasees who were the Jews.  The Sadducees in the Temple followed a strict, literal interpretation of the written Law of Moses (the Torah or Pentateuch). They focused on the first five books of the Bible, rejecting the oral traditions, interpretations, and added doctrines held by the Pharisees, such as the resurrection of the dead. 

That's what I took it as, anyway.

Even the HILL's headline reads "Hegseth compares media to Jewish biblical group that clashed with Jesus. He was talking about the Pharasees, probably having no idea who they were other than Jews that Jesus was against.  

"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday complained about an “endless stream of garbage” from the media in its coverage of the Iran war, comparing the Pentagon press corps to the Pharisees, the biblical Jewish group that often clashed with Jesus as told in the New Testament only. He is not mentioned in our Jewish Torah at all.  “As I just can’t help but notice the endless stream of garbage, the relentlessly negative coverage you cannot resist peddling, despite the historic and important success of this effort and the success of our troops,” Hegseth said during a briefing at the Pentagon. “Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what side some of you are actually on.”

Well, thank you very much, I say bitterly.  You just called our origin of today's Judaism an endless stream of garbage-as you say Jesus must have thought, who was also a Jew, as you should know.  Let me tell you a few things:  

"King Solomon lived from 961 to 920 BCE, almost 1,000 years before Jesus and he is the one who had the Temple completed as Moses had wanted.  

Going back further than Jesus, to the 2nd Temple period, in Jewish history, it lasted approximately 600 years, from 516 BCE to 70 CE. It began with the completion and dedication of the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile and ended with its destruction by the Romans during the First Jewish–Roman War.  It had Jews in 2 political groups called the Pharisees and the Saducees.  The Pharisees were interested in how the masses needed learning more of the traditional religious teaching.  The Pharisees used to eat in groups and observe all the rules of purity in the same manner as the priests consuming consecrated food in the Temple.  They incorporated into the cult, as some called it, folk-customs not mentioned in the Bible, such as the Water-Drawing Festival, to the dismay of the Saducees.  Pharisees admitted the principle of evolution in their legal decisions.  The Pharisees were thus generally lenient in their interpretatioins.  Pharisaism  was responsible for strengthening morality and  introducing the elasticity which enabled Judaism to withstand its subsequent tribulations;  the movement was continued in the stream of historic Judaism.   So, this is the line of our Judaism today, which has evolved into 3 groups as such;  Orthodox, Conservative, and then Reform Judaism.   

The Sadducees had had absolute control.  It is thought that the origin could have come from the high priest, Zadok whose descendants served in the same office until 162  BCE. It was the well-connected priests and prominent aristocrats who belonged to the Sadducees.  They were the influential in political and economic life.  For them, religion was primarily the Temple cult without a basis of abstracted faith. According to their viewpoint, individuals and groups must aspire to well-being in this world without expecting recompense in the world to come.  they had no belief in a future world, resurrections, or the immortality of the soul and also rejected the existence of angels and spirits.  They sounded very much like our scientists of today,   a very scientific outlook.   The Sadducees were incapable of adaption to a changing environment.  They clung to the letter of the text.  

Resource: 

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5834226-hegseth-media-iran-war-criticism/

CNN

Hezbollah Terrorists Fighting For Iran and Against Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

      October 6, 2024 in Choueifat, Lebanon after an Israeli strike

On 8 October 2023, a day after Hamas launched its 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel and Israel began its bombing of Gaza, Hezbollah joined the conflict in "solidarity with the Palestinians", initially firing on Israeli military outposts in Shebaa Farms and the Golan Heights — both territories under Israeli government.  In 1981, Israel passed the Golan Heights Law to legalize its law, jurisdiction, and administration.  The Sheba Farms between 2000 and 2005, Hezbollah attacked the IDF at Shebaa/Har Dov 33 times, resulting in seven Israeli soldiers killed in action, three taken prisoner, and dozens wounded.  

On 26 April 2024, an Israeli Bedouin truck driver was killed at Har Dov during infrastructure works as a result of an anti-tank missile strike by Hezbollah.  

 Since then, Hezbollah and Israel have been involved in cross-border military exchanges that have displaced entire communities in Israel and Lebanon, with significant damage to buildings and land along the border. 

From 7 October 2023 to 20 September 2024, there were 10,200 cross border attacks, of which Israel launched 8,300. Over 96,000 people in Israel, and over 111,000 in Lebanon, have been displaced during this period. Israel and Hezbollah have maintained their attacks at a level that causes harm without escalating into a full-scale war.  

Hezbollah has taken over Lebanon almost completely.                                       

Israel forced to fight Hezbollah after assassinating their backer, Ali Khamenei, who retaliated with their own attacks.  

Sgt. Maj. (res.) Ayal Uriel Bianco, 30, of Katzrin, was killed in combat in southern Lebanon when the Humvee he was in overturned. He served as the driver of a firefighting vehicle in the 188th Brigade. Three other soldiers were injured in the incident. Ten soldiers were wounded in fighting in southern Lebanon overnight, including three in serious condition, during a close-quarters encounter with Hezbollah terrorists. Altogether, 14 IDF were affected.  

Why is Israel fighting in southern Lebanon?  Israel is fighting in southern Lebanon to neutralize the threat posed by Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed paramilitary group, following rocket and drone attacks that began on March 2, 2026, in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli killing of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. 

Israel’s primary goals are to establish a "no-go" security buffer zone up to the Litani River and stop cross-border fire, forcing residents of northern Israel, who evacuated, to be able to return safely.

The Litani River, stretching 174 km with 60 km of tributaries, traverses diverse climates from coastal subtropical to dry continental. Its basin encompasses 2110 km2, making it the largest watershed in Lebanon and covering about 20% of the country's total area. The basin spans 263 villages in 12 districts and 4 governorates, covering a significant portion of Lebanon's ecological landscape and contributing around 30% of the total water flow in the country.

The Litani River flows in southern Lebanon, roughly parallel to the Israeli-Lebanese border and located approximately 29 km (18 miles) north of it at its closest point near the Mediterranean Sea. The river acts as a significant geographic divider in southern Lebanon, with Israeli military strategies often focusing on the territory up to this river as a "buffer zone"

By 2022, the Litani River had also become central in geopolitical discussions due to its proximity to Israel and its strategic significance in water politics.

In March 2026, during the 2026 Lebanon war, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated that Israel, following the war, should annex territories up to the Litani River. 

Israeli Defense minister Israel Katz states that the military will control a "security zone" up to the Litani River in southern Lebanon until the threat of Hezbollah is removed.

 On March 31, Katz stated that all homes in villages near the border in Lebanon would be destroyed and that Israel will establish a buffer zone in Southern Lebanon.

CBC tells us that:  Displaced people are seen inside the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, which is being used as a temporary encampment, following an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, in Beirut on Sunday. (Yara Nardi/Reuters)

Israel struck a main bridge linking Lebanon's south to the rest of the country on Sunday after ordering its military to destroy all crossings over Lebanon's Litani River and to step up the demolition of homes near the southern border.

The destruction of bridges and homes marks a significant escalation in Israel's military campaign in Lebanon — which was pulled into the regional war on March 2 when Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah fired into Israeli territory after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28 and assassinated its supreme leader.

International ​law generally prohibits militaries from attacking civilian infrastructure, and the United Nations human rights chief has criticized Israel's actions in Lebanon, particularly its use of widespread evacuation orders.

Sunday's strike pulverized a crossing on Lebanon's coastal highway that ran through farmland and was one of the main routes linking southern and central Lebanon.

An Israeli military spokesperson had announced the army would strike the bridge earlier on Sunday.

The guardian of Australia had this to say:  

guardian

 2d

“I came outside the road and I saw the smoke. They were bombing all over Lebanon,” said Ghia Hajo, a Lebanese woman who, together with her family, was displaced from their home near the city of Tyre on 2 March.
‌
After fighting erupted once again between Hezbollah and Israel after the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Israel’s military launched a bombing campaign and ground invasion of southern Lebanon, displacing more than 1.2 million people and, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, more than 2,000 have been killed so far. (Hezbollah number are always overdone. )
‌
Israel has said that it will occupy vast swathes of south Lebanon, establishing a “security zone” in the area up to the Litani River, adding that displaced people would not be allowed to return to their homes until the safety of northern Israeli cities is guaranteed, prompting concern there will be long-term displacement.

Resource:

https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/political-instability-lebanon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litani_River

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXFG-xuoR0r/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/israel-lebanon-displacement-9.7137934

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah%E2%80%93Israel_conflict_(2023%E2%80%93present)

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hezbollah-says-lebanons-talks-with-israel-widen-national-rift-2026-04-15/

Is Defending Swalwell Accused Sex Offender Hopeless?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

Born November 16, 1980) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from 2013 to 2026 (13 years). He was first elected from California's 15th congressional district in 2012, and served until 2023 when new maps switched him to the 14th district. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

I'm tired and shouldn't write this, the the story that came out " about Rep. Eric Swalwell is still on my mind settling in there in amazement at today's education of young women. I was born a Democrat with a mother who changed as she saw fit to do, so I guess I take after her.  I am tired of both parties, but independent wins nothing, usually.  I'm a mother of a son and a daughter.  

Suddenly so close to election time, four women appeared from the Democratic side describing sexual misconduct by him including a former staffer who says he even raped her!  

His Democratic competition:  The list of other potentially viable Democrats in the race includes billionaire activist Tom Steyer, who has blanketed the television airwaves by pumping at least $110 million into advertising; progressive former Rep. Katie Porter; former Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra; former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan; California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond; and former state controller Betty Yee, 7 in competition !  

His bad luck in dealing with Republicans was back in May 215.  Given Swalwell's position on the House Intelligence Committee, he played a role in investigating the links between Trump associates and Russian officials during his third term, saying, "It's always smelled like collusion.

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice under the Trump administration seized Swalwell's personal data. The record seizure also targeted Adam Schiff, who chaired the House Intelligence Committee.

Swalwell served as an impeachment manager (prosecutor) during President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial.

Clockwise from top left: Fang with then-Dublin City Councilmember Eric Swalwell at an October 2012 student event; undated photo of Fang, now former Fremont Mayor Bill Harrison and Rep. Judy Chu; Fang with then-Rep. Mike Honda and then-San Jose city Councilmember Ash Kalra at a March 2014 event at the Chinese Embassy in D.C. Sources: Renren, Facebook, Facebook

He garnered another incident.  In December 2020, Swalwell was named in an Axios story about suspected Chinese spy Fang Fang (方芳; Fāng Fāng), known as Christine Fang.  Swalwell ended ties with Fang in 2015 after U.S. intelligence briefed him and top members of Congress on concerns that Chinese agents were attempting to infiltrate Congress.  Swalwell had done nothing bad. 

On April 11, 2026, in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations which caused Swalwell to drop out of the 2026 California gubernatorial election, Axios reported that Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna intended to file a bill forcing the expulsion of Swalwell and representative Tony Gonzales, another member of the House of Representatives accused of sexual misconduct. On April 13, Swalwell announced his plan to resign from Congress. That same day, Gonzales announced his own resignation.  These men have dropped out.

What got to me was the report of the one lady most on TV was her telling of trading nude pictures of each other !  Then she told how she drank so much alcohol that she lost control of herself, winding up in his bed feeling like she had had relations with him;  so she winds up causing him to lose what he has been preparing for all these years....and don't say,  copying Bill Clinton !  

Didn't her mother ever tell warn her about such things?  Mine did.  I'm 91 years old, so people of the past were helping their daughters to be safe rather than sorry.  The woman cried briefly when sobbing  that no one protected her.  Well, she is expected to know about such things herself!! Or have schools stopped completely?  I even remember a gross movie we were presented with at the theater showing nude men from the waist down  and what made them different than us women.  It was part of our sex education here in Portland, Oregon.  

Thus, anybody with common sense should know what can happen when you share nude pictures of each other and drink alcohol with that person at any time and what the man might be expecting.  

My mother told me that when a man gets overly exciting smooching, their sexual expectations cannot be changed.  They cannot stop!  

Now, Homo Sapien men go back to Africa approximately 300,000 to 350,000 years ago. The oldest known fossils, discovered in Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, indicate that early, or "archaic," Homo sapiens were widespread across Africa by roughly 300,000 to 315,000 years ago. Anatomically modern humans emerged closer to 200,000–300,000 years ago.  The point is, they have had such hormones for a long long time.  We've had our own hormones to protect our children for the same length.  There was a reason for both;  for men, to procreate, which, if they aren't more careful, could do that when they don't mean to.  

I see Democrats on the View, and they are desperate to get Trump out, as most all Americans want at this point, so sometimes, people create setups to destroy the other party, and Democrats surely thought there was enough of that going on hurting their own party.  All these attacks before election could have been set ups, but no one wants to take on proof of rape or sex when it happened so long ago.  I see no defense. 

Are investigations of Swalwell finished already?  What kind ?

Based on reports from April 2026, the allegations against Representative Eric Swalwell regarding sexual misconduct with four women (including a former staffer) have led to the following investigations and actions: 

• House Ethics Committee: The committee officially announced an investigation to determine if Rep. Swalwell violated the Code of Official Conduct or any laws regarding sexual misconduct, particularly toward an employee under his supervision.
• Manhattan District Attorney's Office: This office confirmed they launched an investigation into the sexual assault allegations against Swalwell.  This doesn't say it has ended.  
• Law Enforcement: A woman who alleged she was assaulted in 2018 (8 years ago)  stated she planned to report the incident to law enforcement.  When?  
• Media Investigation: The San Francisco Chronicle and CNN were primary outlets that published the allegations from the four women, which included claims of sexual assault, unwanted advances, and inappropriate messaging, prompting a chain reaction in the 2026 California governor's race. 

Following these allegations, Swalwell dropped his bid for California governor and announced his resignation from Congress. He has denied the claims, calling them "false" (what does he think he did?)  and "politically motivated". 

 +2  

Resource:

https://www.axios.com/2020/12/08/china-spy-california-politicians