Dave

Thankful Christian | Principled Conservative | Father of 3 | Really interested in the Truth and have learned to keep an open mind in order to find it

[Wasson Watch Co. @WassonWatch]

This is a great example of how propagandists lie.

1 - The Claim:
Former CIA officer, John Kiriakou, says he has a friend who was going to give a speech at Georgia State University, but they sent her the contract in advance, and part of it was a requirement that she "swear allegiance to Israel."

He says that she refused because she doesn't have allegiance to Israel, and that GSU said that she can't be a contractor with them unless she "swears fealty to Israel," and she said "no," so they cancelled her speech. So she sued, and she lost in the Supreme Court of Georgia.

He also goes on to say that all 50 US states give money to Israel, that it's a line item in their budgets.

2 - The Context

First thing you need to know is, who is John Kiriakou? He's a former CIA officer who was fired and arrested for sharing classified information. He spent two years in prison, and after coming out he has worked for Russian State Media enterprises such as RT News. Almost everything he says about the United States is extremely negative, while he gives praise to Russia, Iran, and other enemies of the US.

Now, about the story he told. The "friend" he mentioned is a journalist and filmmaker named Abby martin. And the contract requiring "allegiance" and "fealty" to Israel? Such a contract does not exist. What he's referring to is actually a requirement that individuals and businesses eligible for state contracts may not engage in BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) activities against Israel. The BDS movement, as you may or may not be aware, is a rabidly antisemitic movement led by groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood (ok CAIR essentially is the Muslim Brotherhood) to undermine Israel. Wise individuals, organizations, and governments have recognized that everyone involved in BDS is completely unhinged, and shouldn't be recipients of state contracts.

Oh, and, speaking of CAIR: Kirakou's "friend," Abby Martin, was actually represented by CAIR in the lawsuit.

3 - Unpacking the Lie and its Impact

So the lie is that he said Abby Martin was told to sign a contract that required allegiance to Israel, and that's not what it was at all. She just couldn't be involve in BDS stuff, which is known to be antisemitic and terrorist adjacent at least.

He then just *drops* this non sequitur about all the money that US states give to Israel, calling it a line-item in the budget of all 50 states. That's simply not true. Not only is it not true, it's not even *partly* true. Not one state gives money to Israel. There are states that have investment portfolios (such as for their pensions/retirement benefits etc.) that invest in Israeli bonds, but no money is simply given to Israel. You may wonder why they'd invest in Israeli bonds? Well, because they pay quite well. They typically yield between 0.825% and 1.25% higher than US bonds.

Kiriakou tells his lies with great conviction. There's a basis of truth in each of his lies. Martin did refuse to sign a contract, and it was related to Israel. There is some state money that goes to Israel, though its an investment, not a gift, grant, or foreign aid. Because there are elements of truth, and because he says it with confidence and authority, the average person might just watch the video and move, assuming that everything in it is true.

But it's not just one video. It's hundreds. Thousands.

If someone spends an hour looking at reels per week, it's likely that they'll see a dozen or more anti-Israel videos in that time. All making various claims. None of them true. None of them substantiated. But how many people are pausing those videos and looking up the information? Very few.

And this is exactly how we see entire populations get led into antisemitism. Over the last several years (since 2022) in the US we've gone from 41% of the population having a negative view of Israel to 60%. In 2022 just 10% of Americans had a very unfavorable view of Israel. Now it's 28%.

This is not organic. It's not spontaneous. It's not natural. It is artificial and manufactured, and it's the direct result of dishonest propaganda videos just like this one featuring John Kiriakou.

This evil is causing lasting damage to our nation. Antisemitism is on the rise, sharply. The number of Jewish people choosing to leave the West in general and the US specifically is increasing. As more Jews leave, the likelihood of increased antisemitism goes up, not down, and antisemitism is a mind virus. It breeds insanity. As people are swept up in it they become stupid. If that stupidity grips our nation, it will not only be supremely evil in the impact it has on Jews, but also on the impact it will have on our ability as a people to run a nation with any kind of sanity at all.

Look at the pro-Palestine people, the Rashida Tlaibs, the Ilhan Omars, and the Zohran Mamdanis of the world. They don't love America, or American values. They hate America and American values. The more anti-Israel and antisemitic people become, the more they resembled these un-American psychopaths.

You want to stop the spread of Islam in America? You need to recognize that sowing our nation with hate for Israel and Jews is a major part of the spread of Islam. If you want to defeat Islam, you have to defeat the lies its agents are spreading. You have to reject the lies, and refute them boldly so that others are equipped to do the same.

SOLI DEO GLORIA ✝️
PAX AMERICANA 🇺🇸
AM YISRAEL CHAI 🇮🇱

[Dave @DavidWBurgin]

@ByronYork Oh no... bless his heart.

[Dave @DavidWBurgin]

@AKofiCup @usmntonly In this case, Henry stated his opinion and invoked Article 27 which was actually contradictory to his opinion. Alexi is then asking why he holds that opinion.

You can call it whataboutism but Henry didn't want to do anything other than state his nonsensical opinion.

[Dave @DavidWBurgin]

@Mazcards_ @usmntonly That is clear

[Dave @DavidWBurgin]

@AKofiCup @usmntonly I think he just didn't want to have to defend his opinion

[Dave @DavidWBurgin]

@KolombianGold @usmntonly That's a strong argument... hard to refute

[Dave @DavidWBurgin]

@Red3rabesque @usmntonly You can certainly make that argument and maybe it's correct but USMNT has faltered so many times and looked mentally soft that it's hard to be sure

[Dave @DavidWBurgin]

@TomLockjr @usmntonly You don't have to argue to disagree, THAT'S the sign of a professional

[Dave @DavidWBurgin]

@PaulStrelowTI The moment was too big and most wilted. Touches were poor, defenders standing and watching, Freese's mistake, Pulisic a no-show, Ream was awful... mentally checked out as a team. Hated to see it!

[Dave @DavidWBurgin]

@SteveDeaceShow When you're wrong, you're very wrong

[Dave @DavidWBurgin]

@SlowToWrite You're completely lost on understanding this.

[Dave @DavidWBurgin]

@SlowToWrite Moment was too big. Really a shame. Hopefully it's not in 4 years.

[Ron DeSantis @RonDeSantis]

The approval of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on the 4th of July, 1776 represented the ultimate political gamble.

The American revolutionaries were fighting against the world’s most powerful country, and the vast majority of colonists in America either opposed or were indifferent to independence.

While the odds were slim, the consequences for failure were severe. All 56 men who later signed the Declaration faced an assured death by hanging were the Revolution to fail.

And they had a lot to lose. The leaders of the Revolution were generally wealthy and influential in the colonies.

But they had suffered what Jefferson called a “long train of abuses” over the previous decade, and believed that failure to take a stand would lead to the destruction of their liberty.

So when they pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor, they meant it.

The Declaration was the ultimate political line in the sand: rights are God-given, not government-granted; government is legitimate only upon the consent of the governed; and government’s purpose is to safeguard the natural rights of the people.

What began as a conservative rebellion seeking the preservation of traditional English rights evolved into a political revolution that laid the foundation for the rise of the greatest republic in history — and that produced transformational consequences around the world.

We as Americans in 2026 are inheritors of this legacy of liberty and the beneficiaries of the courage, wisdom and dedication of the Founding Fathers.

We can acknowledge that our society and nation face a lot of problems. Whether there will be an America 500 celebration may very well depend on how this generation of Americans tackle these challenges.

But there can be no doubt that we are fortunate to be citizens of this republic. And we have a small group of patriots, who took a risky stand 250 years ago, to thank for that.

Happy America 250!

[Dave @DavidWBurgin]

@JaimeeUSA Clearly 2. Could go with 7

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

Before Mel Brooks directed a single movie, he was an 18-year-old combat engineer in the Battle of the Bulge, one of the bloodiest battles American soldiers fought in all of World War II. His job was to find German landmines so a specialist could pull the fuses, and he did it while shells came down around him.

He made it home and spent the next seventy years making people laugh. First he wrote for Sid Caesar's TV show, in the same writers' room as Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, and a young Woody Allen. Then came his own films. Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein both landed in 1974, written and directed by the same man in the same year. Blazing Saddles cost $2.6 million to make and brought back $119 million. He even turned Hitler into a Broadway joke with The Producers, a show about two crooks staging the worst musical imaginable, "Springtime for Hitler." The kid who fought the Nazis spent a career making fun of them.

All of that put him in rare company. Fewer than two dozen people have ever won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, the four biggest awards in American entertainment, and Brooks is one of them. He is also the only person ever to win an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony all for writing. The stage version of The Producers won 12 Tony Awards in 2001. No show before or since has won more.

He also did something quieter. His company, Brooksfilms, paid for some of the most serious dramas of the time and left his own name off them on purpose. In 1980 it financed The Elephant Man and handed the film to an unknown director named David Lynch, who had been working as a roofer to pay rent. Brooks left "Mel Brooks" off the posters so nobody would show up expecting a comedy. The film earned eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Brooksfilms went on to back David Cronenberg's The Fly and the Jessica Lange drama Frances.

He turns 100 today. The LEGO box behind him in that photo only goes up to age 99, one year below where he is now. He has a Spaceballs sequel coming to theaters in April 2027, with Brooks back as Yogurt.

[DataRepublican (small r) @DataRepublican]

https://t.co/FoaSRNtwOM

[Dave @DavidWBurgin]

@NASA_Tim @4thOfJuly365 Oh, Tim... Tim... Tim, I think the saying, "It's better to keep silent and let people think you're ignorant than to open your mouth and remove all doubt", would apply here. 😄

[Matt Van Swol @mattvanswol]

🚨#BREAKING: It has been revealed that the man charged with m*rdering a pregnant mother and her unborn son in Atlanta...

...WAS RELEASED EARLY FROM PRISON FOR M*RDER JUST TWO YEARS AGO!!!!

He served just 11 MONTHS in prison for m*rder!!!!!!!

His name is Devin Anthony.

He was originally indicted in a 2024 case for, felony m*rder, aggravated assault, and a gun charge.

So what happened?

They let him plead it down to voluntary manslaughter.

They gave him "First Offender" status, meaning he wasn't even formally convicted.

He was ordered to serve just ELEVEN MONTHS behind bars and 19 years on probation.

Then, this February, he violated that probation. He skipped reporting. He failed a drug test. He blew off his anger management course. He didn't comply with the program.

They held him for 60 DAYS... AND THEN LET HIM GO!!!

...and then he used his probation to fire about a DOZEN shots through a bedroom window, into a home where 23-year-old Shakiya Pridgen was asleep in bed with her two babies.

She was hit.

So was her unborn son.

Shakiya was two weeks from giving birth.

She'd already had the baby shower.
She'd named him Kyren.

They are both gone.

Her two other children, ages 1 and 3, were in the bed beside her and they watched their mother pass away.

Shakiya's own mother said: "He got a second chance. Shakiya doesn't get a second chance. He should have never been let out."

Name the prosecutors. Name the judge. Name everyone who signed off on letting this man walk.

WE DO NOT HAVE TO LIVE LIKE THIS!!!!!!!!

[Rothmus 🏴 @Rothmus]

Harvesting just one kidney from 20% of America’s politicians would give a new kidney to EVERY SINGLE PERSON currently on the transplant waiting list.