Tom Umland

[Tom Umland @waldland]

@Coco2Poppin Are you sure about your sources for this video? Can not see clearly enough but these people look as if they could be Sikhs instead of Muslims

[Tom Umland @waldland]

Doubt all you want. Depends specifically on the state in question. Of course words aren't physical, but in some states especially in the old south which had duels with more frequency than the north, "fighting words" ARE a chargeable offense and when spoken in front of a sheriff's deputy had led to arrest right in front of me.

[Tom Umland @waldland]

duck duck go AI: "The Constitution defines treason as levying war against the United States or adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. A person can only be convicted of treason based on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act or a confession in open court." Did the guy "adher" to Iran? Did he levy war against the US? If not let's try "subversion".

[Tom Umland @waldland]

@SenFettermanPA Good question.

[AAGHarmeetDhillon @AAGDhillon]

BOOM! Huge case. This is one where we @CivilRights co-authored the amicus for the US @TheJusticeDept. A great return to sanity and historical presumptions !

[Tom Umland @waldland]

@nmlinguaphile Well BINGO anyway!

[Homer Pavlos @HomerPavlos]

Tucker Carlson thinks that Muslims were very kind toward Christians during the Ottoman period, and for that reason, I would like to explain to you how kind they were.

For 300 years the Ottoman Turks were stealing kids from their mothers. This was the most brutal thing humanity ever witnessed. They were waiting for women to birth, raise their kids, and then at the age of 8 were collecting them. The devşirme known as "collection of children" or "blood tax" or in Greek as "paidomazoma", was a systematic practice by the Ottoman Empire from the late 14th century until the mid-17th century, that forced the recruitment of young Christian boys, typically aged 8–18, from Balkan provinces as a form of tribute ("blood tax").

They were taken from their families, converted to Islam, and rigorously trained to serve in the empire's military, administrative, and bureaucratic roles. This created a loyal class of elite soldiers and officials who were dependent on the sultan rather than on hereditary Turkish aristocracy.

Many became Janissaries, the empire's elite infantry corps, or rose to high positions like grand viziers, provincial governors, admirals, or financial bureaucrats.

Estimates suggest tens of thousands of boys were recruited annually at its peak in the 15th–16th centuries.

Historians estimate the total number of Christian boys taken across the entire Ottoman Empire around 300.000 kids. From those kids 150.000 were Greek kids (over 300 years). It means the half of the total kids that were stolen were only Greek.

For example in 1540, a levy in the Greek regions of Thessaly & Macedonia took 1.000 Greek boys in one season and in Chios (the Greek island) 200 boys taken in 1567 alone. The peak was 5.000 kids/annual from Greece. A generational trauma, with thousands of Greek families losing sons every few years for centuries.

The system began under Sultan Murad I (1362–1389) and largely ended by 1648, as Muslims were increasingly allowed to fill these roles and Janissary corruption grew.

After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Ottoman control extended over most Greek lands, making Greek Orthodox families prime targets for recruitment. The practice targeted rural communities disproportionately, as urban or strategically important groups were often exempt.

On 28 February 1395, Archbishop Isidore Glabas of Thessaloniki denounced it in a speech as "paidomazoma" (child-gathering), describing the anguish of parents: mothers scratching their cheeks in grief and fathers beating their breasts and the violent Islamization of children and their hard training in the use of dogs and falcons.

A 1550 Greek poem by Ioannes Axayiolis, appealed to Charles V of Germany to liberate the Christians from the Turks (for liberation from this "sorrow"). The text is found in the Codex Vaticanus Graecus of 1624.

In another account, the Roman Catholic bishop of Chios in 1646 writes to the director of the Catholic Greek Gymnasion of Rome asking the latter to accept Paulos Omeros (lol my name Pavlos Homeros), a 12-year-old boy from Chios, to save him from the devshirme.

Once taken, boys were circumcised, renamed with Muslim names, and forbidden from contact with their families. They were raised as Muslims, effectively erasing their Greek cultural and religious identity to foster loyalty to the sultan. Historical records show Greek-origin devşirme boys rising to prominence, such as Mimar Sinan (chief architect of the Ottomans, possibly Greek) and several grand viziers like Ibrahim Edhem Pasha (from Chios).

The system accelerated Islamization in Greek regions, reducing Christian populations and creating a class of "Greek Muslims" (for example in Pontus or Crete). It fueled revolts and the Greek War of Independence (1821), where devşirme grievances were invoked.

During the Ottoman period, Muslims enjoyed performing all kinds of mutilations. Ears, noses, lips, tongues, breasts, and genitals were primarily cut off. Not just those, though. Let's recall here the Saint Raphael of Mytilene, who was hanged from a tree and had his lower jaw cut off, while the twelve-year-old martyr Irene was roasted in a barrel on the Tuesday of Easter in the year 1463, ten years after the fall of Constantinople.

In many cases, the severed body parts "adorned" the warrior collection of the janissary. The pashas gave bakshish (tips) to every "brave" Muslim warrior according to how many ears of "infidel" Christians he brought back. He himself confirmed his bravery and "manliness" among his peers by having a "komboloi" (worry beads) made from the nipples of breasts he had cut off from women. The bravest man was the one with the longest komboloi after a massacre and looting.

Blinding with various sharp objects was also common. This was particularly frequent during periods of massacres and atrocities. Many unfortunate Christians remained blind for the rest of their lives because they had the misfortune of a horde of janissaries passing through their land. The Egyptians under Ibrahim Pasha were especially notorious for this crime.

Many times Christian captives were placed in front of cannons that were fired, turning them into human shreds of flesh. In other cases, they were tied to galleys that sailed in opposite directions and were torn apart. Dismemberment of victims also occurred with horses.

Indeed, Islam was very kind toward Christians during the Ottoman period.

In Greece, the denial or public endorsement of the Genocide of the Greek Christians of Pontus, Asia Minor, and Anatolia by the Turkish Muslims is criminally prosecuted and constitutes an offense.

We won't forget the anti-Greek and Islamic propaganda that Tucker Carlson pushed through his podcast.

[Vivid.🇮🇱 @VividProwess]

The amazing @lalshareef explains how Israel removed Jews from Gaza in 2005 to get peace, leaving behind greenhouses worth millions of dollars.

The Palestinians looted the greenhouses, and Gaza was turned into a terror fortress.

This must go viral.

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

As America approaches its 250th birthday, the Civic Profile invites reflection on citizenship today. Take the Quiz.

[Tom Umland @waldland]

@GraduatedBen What can be said but that Tucker is a liar for hire.

[Nashville Tea Party @NashvilleTea]

"Being black or gay or a woman is not an accomplishment" - Heather Mac Donald nailed it as usual - Identity politics is all about self-love, aka, narcissism.

[DNI Tulsi Gabbard @DNIGabbard]

Today, on my final day as Director of National Intelligence, I’m releasing never-before-seen communications and documents exposing how Dr. Fauci provided millions in US taxpayer dollars to fund dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab, worked with politicized elements within the Intelligence Community to suppress the truth about his actions and hide the virus’ lab-leak origins, and lied to Congress while under oath in 2024. It’s time you know the truth.

https://t.co/3YJSstB7d4

[Tom Umland @waldland]

@VP , How about we get this straight!

[daniel hanuka📟 🇮🇱 @LionsOfZion_ORG]

JD Vance said Israel was “built with American money.”

That sounds great to people who learned Middle Eastern history from campaign slogans.

But it is not history. It is political theater from someone who discovered Israel yesterday morning.

Israel was not built by an American check.

Israel was built by Jewish money, Jewish labor, Israeli taxes, Zionist institutions, loans, diaspora donations, Israel Bonds, German reparations, austerity, immigration, sacrifice, industry, agriculture, and people who did not wait for Washington.

Long before Israel existed as a state, Jews in the land were already building towns, farms, kibbutzim, schools, universities, banks, defense groups, factories, hospitals, roads, and national institutions.

Before “American aid,” Jews put coins into blue JNF boxes.
Before billion-dollar defense packages, Holocaust survivors built a country from tents, ration cards, sweat, and trauma.

In 1948, when Israel declared independence and five Arab armies invaded, America did not “build” Israel’s army. America recognized Israel, which mattered, but the U.S. also supported an arms embargo.

Israel survived its first war not because America built it, but because Jews fought for their lives with too little money, too little ammunition.

So where did the money come from?

From Jews in the diaspora.
From Keren Hayesod.
From the Jewish National Fund.
From Israel Bonds.
From Israeli taxpayers.
From loans.
From German reparations.
From austerity.
From exports, agriculture, factories, innovation, and people working like their lives depended on it.

In 1951, Israel launched Israel Bonds to raise money from Jewish communities and investors abroad. That was not foreign aid. That was a young state borrowing money, building infrastructure, and paying it back.

In 1952, Israel signed reparations with West Germany. That money helped the young state absorb hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors and immigrants while recovering from severe shortages.

And Israelis themselves paid the real price.

The austerity years were not a slogan. Israel absorbed mass immigration, built housing, roads, ports, schools, hospitals, factories, and an army — while citizens lived under rationing, taxes, shortages, and a controlled economy.

Israel was not born because America clicked “send payment.”

Yes, America later became a crucial ally.
Yes, American military aid is important.
Yes, real friendship deserves gratitude.

But there is a massive difference between helping an ally become stronger and claiming you built that ally.

American aid helped strengthen Israel.
It did not create Israel.

By the time U.S. aid became central to Israel’s defense, Israel had already been founded, survived wars, built institutions, absorbed millions of immigrants, and turned itself from a poor country under rationing into a serious economy.

That is the part Vance wants to erase.

Israel was not a Washington real estate project.
Israel was not a startup that got seed funding from America.
Israel was not a charity case with a flag.

Israel was a nation that came home, built before it had sovereignty, fought before it had enough weapons, absorbed refugees before it had enough houses, built an economy before it had enough foreign currency, and became strong before American politicians started taking credit.

Today, Israel is one of the world’s most advanced economies. Its high-tech, cyber, defense, medical, agricultural, and AI innovation help the United States and the free world.

That did not come from foreign aid. It came from human capital, education, military necessity, research, risk-taking, and Jewish survival instinct.

America is an important ally.
But America is not Israel’s parent.
America is not Israel’s owner.
And America does not get to erase 3,000 years of Jewish identity and 78 years of Israeli sacrifice with one cheap populist line.

Israel was built with Jewish money, Israeli hands, Israeli brains, and Jewish blood.

America helped.
Israel built.

There is a huge difference.

[Ari Hoffman @thehoffather]

JD Vance on Israel opposing the MOU: "What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of 9 million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have."

Israel negotiated or accepted peace deals in 1947, 1949, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1993, 1994x2, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2020x3, 2021

Maybe blame the terrorist orgs that just want Israel & AMERICA'S destruction, rather than the ally that has been fighting alongside the US

[AAGHarmeetDhillon @AAGDhillon]

TODAY is a NEW DAY for #ParentalRights!

@CivilRights will restore parental authority—no secret transitions, no hiding info from parents, no surveys without consent.

We WILL investigate, litigate & defund as necessary.

Parents, your voice is back NOW! @TheJusticeDept

[Arsen Ostrovsky @Ostrov_A]

Must-read from Sam Harris in @australian on why he refuses to engage in most Israel debates: because too often they start from false assumption that Israel is the problem, while ignoring the ideology that glorifies October 7, martyrdom and the destruction of the Jewish state.

[Tom Umland @waldland]

@EYakoby Apparently letting miscreants get away with damaging public property is not a crime enforceable by the NY police under Mamdani.

[Tom Umland @waldland]

@nicksortor ACTIVE discouragement by Police would have terminated this nonsense. The fact appears to be that the Police are being held back.

[Afshine Emrani MD FACC @afshineemrani]

1/5
An open letter to @TheLancet from an Iranian-Jewish cardiologist.
Today, one of the world's most prestigious medical journals published a campaign to suspend the Israeli Medical Association from the World Medical Association — the body founded after WWII to ensure physicians would never again be weaponized by political ideology.
I'm a cardiologist. I'm an Iranian Jew who grew up under a regime where medicine was subjugated to the state.
What The Lancet just did is a disgrace to my profession.
Here's what they published — and what they deliberately left out.