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Data Scrutiny: A report by Regavim challenges U.N. OCHA data on West Bank violence, alleging it includes non-violent incidents in its count of violent settler events.
Incident Inclusion: The U.N. data reportedly includes activities such as visits to the Temple Mount, archaeological site visits, and even traffic accidents as 'settler violence'.
Questionable Victims: The U.N. count of alleged violent incidents includes Palestinians harmed while engaging in terrorist attacks and cases where the victim's involvement in clashes is noted.
Blame on Security Forces: In some instances counted as 'settler violence' by the U.N., the report indicates that Israeli security forces, not settlers, were responsible.
Contrast with Palestinian Attacks: Israeli data from Shin Bet records a significantly higher number of serious attacks by Palestinians against Israeli civilians compared to the filtered 'settler violence' incidents.
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Strategic Initiatives
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Presidential Approval: President Trump's job approval rating has recovered and is near 50%, comparable to Obama and G.W. Bush at a similar point in their second terms.
Military Recruitment: Under the new Defense Secretary, the Army met its FY2025 recruiting goal early, which the author suggests may be linked to Trump's rhetoric attracting un-woke young people.
Trade with China: China's exports to the U.S. in May were the lowest since February 2020, possibly influenced by Trump's trade policies and rhetoric.
Labor Market: May job numbers increased by more than expected, despite a significant drop in foreign-born workers since March.
Self-Deportation: The events in Los Angeles, including the handling of protests against ICE activity and the federal response, may encourage illegal immigrants to consider "self-deportation."
Public Opinion on Immigration: Polls indicate public approval of Trump's deportation program and show that many voters feel Democrats lack a clear plan on immigration.
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Who do you believe is most responsible for the ongoing violence in Los Angeles?
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French defense spending: France faces challenges in increasing its defense budget to 3.5% of GDP due to high national debt.
Debt exceeding economy: France's national debt surpasses its economic output, limiting its ability to borrow more for defense.
Fiscal constraints: High budget deficits and taxes, coupled with reluctance to cut welfare spending, make it difficult for France to fund defense goals.
Debt servicing costs: France spends more on servicing its national debt annually than its defense budget.
Comparison with Germany: Germany is pursuing military rearmament funded by borrowing, unlike France, which is limited by its debt.
US parallels: The US also faces high national debt and interest payments exceeding its defense budget, presenting similar potential constraints.
For those who see no downside in America’s failure to control its runaway federal borrowing, a harbinger of debt danger is emerging at, of all places, Paris. That’s where the French government is finding that it is unable to boost its defense spending because it has already borrowed too much money. So while America’s other allies in the North Atlantic Treaty are spending more to improve their militaries, France is lagging. It’s a cautionary tale for America.
President Macron aspires to raise French defense spending to as much as 3.5 percent of national economic output from its current level of roughly 2 percent, the Financial Times reports, “implying a doubling of yearly spending” to some 100 billion euros by 2030. Yet the French fiscal well is dry. Paris has already racked up so much debt — more than 3.3 trillion euros — that its borrowing now exceeds the size of its economy of a little more than 3 trillion euros.
The French budget deficit is already one of the largest in Europe, running at almost 6 percent of economic output. Taxes are among the highest on the Continent. Spending cuts on welfare entitlements, one imagines, are insupportable. So “lawmakers and analysts are questioning whether France can deliver” on its spending goals, the FT reports, as the “high national debt threatens to curb its defence ambitions.”
So much for Monsieur Macron’s “priority to rebuild the military after decades of cuts after the Cold War,” the FT says. By contrast, at Berlin, lawmakers wary of Russian aggression have unveiled a vast military rearmament scheme to the tune of some $1 trillion in new spending — largely funded by new borrowing. Germany, though, can apparently afford the splurge. It recently surpassed Japan as the world’s largest creditor nation.
One option for France is to beg the European Union for an exemption from the superstate’s deficit caps, allowing it to borrow to cover more military spending. Yet national amour-propre — and excessive indebtedness — apparently bars this course. “France has no intention” of asking for a temporary suspension of the EU deficit limit, the FT reports, “since it fears spooking bond investors and adding to already high interest costs.”
Already, France is spending 59 billion euros a year to service its national debt, an amount that exceeds its annual defense budget. Yet Uncle Sam can hardly castigate the spendthrift French. America’s own debt held by the public already stands at some 97 percent of the gross domestic product. Interest on the debt here, too, exceeds the annual defense budget. The budget bill brewing in Congress is slated to add trillions of dollars to the national debt.
Fiscal hawks have already been sounding the alarm over how the surging national debt could constrain America’s freedom of action. The head of the Congressional Budget Office, Phillip Swagel, has warned that the “unprecedented” level of federal debt could induce a “Liz Truss-style market shock.” That means a debt market meltdown like the one that prevented Prime Minister Truss from advancing a pro-growth supply-side tax cut in Britain.
Mr. Swagel’s caution was “a reminder of the perils of profligacy,” these columns cautioned last year. Since then, the fiscal picture has hardly brightened. The solons on Capitol Hill, rather than tackling the scourge of federal overspending, appear content to let budget deficits persist indefinitely. Yet as France’s thwarted defense buildup shows, there are risks to this recklessness. Debt, in the end, can destroy national independence just as badly as defeat in a war.
Initial conflict: The author attributes the provocation of the situation in LA to ICE.
Critique of radical actions: The author criticizes the burning of Waymos and American flags as counterproductive and benefiting opposing viewpoints.
Impact on community and immigrants: The author questions how destructive actions help immigrants or the community, citing property damage experienced by an employee.
Counterproductive actions: The author argues that the actions of some protestors harm their own cause rather than ICE or Trump.
Winning support: The author emphasizes the importance of peaceful protest to win public support, echoing the strategy of winning hearts and minds.
Timeline and Escalation: Protests in downtown LA escalated to violence after police tried to leave an area near the federal building, leading to protesters damaging police cars and, subsequently, burning five Waymo vehicles.
Burning of Waymos: Unoccupied Waymo self-driving cars were vandalized and set on fire after protesters moved through areas with no police presence. There was a divide between some protesters who wanted to light the fires and others who tried to prevent it due to safety concerns.
Police Presence and Response: The police role varied significantly. On Sunday, there was very little LAPD presence after the initial confrontation, with California Highway Patrol officers trapped under an overpass. On Monday, focused arrests were made during a day the protesters aimed for "peaceful optics."
Politics and Opinions: The interviewee identifies as right-leaning, disagreeing with the characterization of ICE raids as immoral acts of terrorism and criticizing local leadership (Karen Bass) for not taking stronger action against the rioters.
Anarchy and Damage: Sunday's events in downtown LA were described as
