Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Two years ago, we discussed how Oregon schools solved declining scores by eliminating their requirements that graduates actually attain levels of proficiency in basic subjects like math and English.

In 2021, the changes were portrayed as just a temporary measure due to the pandemic.

However, the state just extended it five more years.  It declared that such proficiency tests are unfair to students of color.

So, rather than give these students the level of education needed to excel in the modern workplace, schools will now process them out with degrees and call it social progress. 

Public schools across the country continue to fail inner city children and appear to be be giving up on reversing this trend. 

In Baltimore, a survey found that forty percent of schools did not have a single student proficient in math. Rather than reverse that trend, the schools are just waiving the tests and graduating the students.

What is so frustrating is reading about failing school systems waiving proficiency and claiming that it is better for minority students.

American education faces the perfect storm.

Despite record expenditures on public schools, we are still effectively abandoning students, particularly minority students, in teaching the basic subjects needed to succeed in life.

We will then graduate the students by removing testing barriers for graduation. Then some may go to colleges and universities that have eliminated standardized testing for admission. At every stage in their education, they have been pushed through by educators without objective proof that they are minimally educated. That certainly guarantees high graduation rates or improved diversity admissions. However, these students are still left at a sub-proficient state as they enter an increasingly competitive job market and economy. Any failures will come down the road when they will be asked to write, read, or add by someone who is looking for actual work product. They will then be outside of the educational system and any failures will not be attributed to public educators.

If we truly care for these students, we cannot rig the system to just kick them down the road toward failure. It is like declaring patients healthy by just looking at them and sending them on their way. We have the ability to measure proficiency and we have the moral obligation to face our own failures in helping these kids achieve it.

Oregon board members said proficiency is now unnecessary and harmed minority students since higher rates of students of color failed to reach these levels, The Oregonian reported. The question is how the board is defining what is necessary. If any of these students hope to escape cycles of poverty, they have to be able to do better than the status quo. These boards are condemning them to the same endless cycle.

These proficiency standards were developed by academics to establish what they viewed as the education needed to excel in our society. Now, the boards are simply downgraded to meet their own lack of academic performance. State Sen. Michael Dembrow told the Oregon Capital Chronicle insists “I think there’s an assumption here that teachers are just graduating students, who don’t have the necessary competencies and I don’t know what the justification is for that.”

The point is that these students do not need to meet some low level of competence in order to be able to aspire to more than menial or low-level positions.

The move in Oregon occurs at the same time as a national effort to eliminate standardized testing and scores on every level of our educational system. For example, the University of California system joined the “test-blind” movement and said it would end the use of the SAT and ACT in its admissions decisions. The move followed a decision of California voters not to lift the long ban on affirmative action in education under state law.  Many have decried standardized testing as vehicles for white supremacy.

University of California President Janet Napolitano sought to eliminate standardized testing by assembling the Standardized Testing Task Force in 2019. Many people expected the task force to recommend the cessation of standardized testing. However, the Task Force surprised many (most notably Napolitano herself) by releasing a final report that concluded that standardized testing was not just reliable, but that “at UC, test scores are currently better predictors of first-year GPA than high school grade point average (HSGPA), and about as good at predicting first-year retention, [University] GPA, and graduation.” It even found that “test scores are predictive for all demographic groups and disciplines … In fact, test scores are better predictors of success for students who are Underrepresented Minority Students (URMs), who are first generation, or whose families are low-income.”

Despite those conclusions, Napolitano simply announced a cessation of the use of such scores in admissions.

I previously wrote how some teachers and administrators are rapidly killing public education.

Many of us have advocated for public education for decades. I sent my children to public schools, and I still hope we can turn this around without wholesale voucher systems. Yet teachers and boards are killing the institution of public education by treating children and parents more like captives than consumers.

As public schools continue to produce abysmal scores, particularly for minority students, board and union officials have called for lowering or suspending proficiency standards or declared meritocracy to be a form of “white supremacy.” Gifted and talented programs are being eliminated in the name of “equity.”

Once parents have a choice, these teachers lose a virtual monopoly over many families, and these districts could lose billions in states like Florida.

This is precisely why school systems like the Seattle public schools are facing budget shortfalls as families vote with their feet. These families want a return to the educational mission that once defined our schools.

The lowering of these standards reflect a lack of proficiency in public education. Rather than meet the standard previously set for success in society, Oregon will now codify pandemic measures to allow students to graduate with lower levels of math, English, and science knowledge. The people of Oregon are clearly not going to stop this trend and they are entitled to set school policy. Just don’t claim it is good for these students.

Panera Bread is on the receiving end of a lawsuit after the parents of a University of Pennsylvania student claim that its “Charged Lemonade” drink led to the wrongful death of their daughter.

Their 21 year old daughter already had a heart condition, a report from 6ABC noted, but may have been led to believe that the chain’s “heavily caffeinated energy drink” was just regularly lemonade. 

Sara Katz experienced cardiac arrest while at the restaurant with friends in September 2022, the report says. She passed away after she was transported to the hospital, where she suffered a second arrest.

Panera said in a statement: “We were very saddened to learn this morning about the tragic passing of Sarah Katz, and our hearts go out to her family. At Panera, we strongly believe in transparency around our ingredients. We will work quickly to thoroughly investigate this matter.”

The autopsy report said her cause of death was “cardiac arrhythmia due to long QT syndrome”, which is a disorder that can cause fast and irregular heartbeats, which can be life-threatening. 

Katz was diagnosed at age 5 and actively limited her caffeine intake. The Panera drink included” sugar, caffeine, coffee extract and guarana extract, which are both sources of caffeine,” 6ABC wrote. 

The lawsuit claims that Katz was “reasonably confident it was a traditional lemonade and/or electrolyte sports drink containing a reasonable amount of caffeine safe for her to drink.” It charges that Panera misled consumers by not properly labeling the drink as an energy drink. 

“Instead, Defendants market, advertise, and sell Panera Charged Lemonade as a product that is ‘Plant-based and Clean with as much caffeine as our Dark Roast Coffee,'” the suit continues. Despite the comparison, the suit claims that because Panera doesn’t say what size the coffee it’s like, the comparison is vague and unhelpful.

The “Charged Lemonade” in a large 30-oz cup has nearly 390 mg of caffeine. The FDA considers 400 mg of caffeine daily as safe for adults. The lawsuit alleges that the drink’s caffeine level is unregulated and could vary dangerously.

Elizabeth Crawford, the lawyer for Katz’s parents, says Katz drank from the large cup, but due to a Panera membership offering free refills, the exact amount consumed is unknown. Crawford added: “We want to make sure that the drink includes a warning, or is taken off the shelf. It’s a dangerous energy drink and it’s not advertised that way. We want to make sure this does not happen to someone else.”

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Massachusetts state House of Representatives approved a sweeping gun law that aims at restricting more firearms and cracking down on AR-15-style rifles—after a unanimous coalition of police chiefs in the state publicly opposed it.

The measure, which passed in a 120–38 vote on Oct. 18, prohibits people from carrying firearms into other people’s homes without their consent. It also would force major gun components to have serial numbers, which would be registered with the state of Massachusetts, while also expanding the state’s “red flag” law that allows a judge to suspend the firearms license of someone who is considered a risk to harming others.

The legislation advanced in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in 2022 that Americans have the Second Amendment-enshrined right to carry firearms in public for self-defense, according to Democrats in Massachusetts, a state that has long had stringent gun laws.

“The Supreme Court’s Bruen decision nullified existing components of our gun laws, threatening the safety of the Commonwealth’s residents. With the passage of this legislation, the House has once again displayed an unwavering commitment to ensuring that Massachusetts remains one of the safest states in the country,” state House Speaker Ronald Mariano, a Democrat, said in a recent statement about the measure and the landmark high court decision.

The proposal would create new laws that bar firing guns at or near homes and outlaw carrying firearms while intoxicated. It would also prohibit carrying firearms in schools, polling places, and government buildings.

The bill expands the state’s ban on certain types of rifles, prohibiting new purchases of AR-15-style firearms. It would also ban someone from turning a legal firearm into an automatic weapon.

The proposal includes an enhanced system to track firearms used in crimes to help curb the flow of illegal guns into the state. It would also modernize the existing firearm registration system while increasing the availability of firearm data for academic and policy use, lawmakers said.

The state Senate has yet to release its version of a gun bill. It will be up to both Democrat-led chambers to hammer out a single bill to ship to Democrat Gov. Maura Healey’s desk for her signature before it can become law.

State Rep. Michael Day, the Democrat who authored the bill, claimed that “we are in the midst of a public health crisis and it is unrelenting” before blaming firearms.

“It’s time for the House to once again act in this area and ask for your support on this bill,” he said.

Republicans and gun rights groups say the law overreaches.

State Rep. Peter Durant, a Republican, said on the floor that he sees only “one goal” in the bill, which is to target law-abiding citizens who own firearms.

“When the listening tours were going on, when we were having the informational sessions, when this bill was being written, we were all told that the legal gun owner is not the not the target here. We’re not going after them,” Mr. Durant said, according to a local NBC affiliate station. “But it certainly seems to be that that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

Another GOP state lawmaker, Rep. David Muradian, said that the “legislation is an egregious infringement on all lawful gun owners, and frankly, all residents of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

“I have had interactions with hundreds if not thousands of constituents within my district on this matter. The resounding question remains: What is the new proposal trying to solve?” he said.

A coalition of all the Bay State’s police chiefs issued a statement saying the bill would affect only lawful gun owners.

“Although disappointed in this very predictable vote—in a proceeding where the House failed to follow their own rules—we applaud those Legislators who recognized that this bill makes no one safer. As we’ve said, the answer lies in the vigorous prosecution of criminals, who have no regard for gun laws, whether old or new. We look forward to addressing this matter with our Senate,” Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association director Mark Leahy told the Boston Herald.

Gun owners opposed to the bill have said that the measures outlined in the legislation do more to target gun owners than to reduce crime. “All of it goes against us, the lawful people. There’s nothing in there that goes after the criminals,” Jim Wallace, executive director of the Gun Owners’ Action League, said, adding that the bill is merely an overreaction to the Supreme Court’s decision last year.

The Supreme Court, in a 6–3 decision last June, ruled that a state law in New York was unconstitutional because it unlawfully restricted an individual’s right to carry a firearm in public.

The majority affirmed that such a right is guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, adding that the states can enforce “shall-issue” permitting, meaning that applicants for concealed-carry licenses have to satisfy criteria. But their ruling stipulated that “may-issue” mandates that use arbitrary evaluations that are made by local officials are unconstitutional.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Some Gen-Zers are having an emotional meltdown on social media about the world of work and struggles of surviving in the era of ‘Bidenomics.’ America’s youth appears to be done with President Biden, who could be their ‘great-great-grandfather,’ as a recent New York Times-Siena poll conducted over the summer showed the president’s approval rating with the youth is in the dumps. 

Let’s begin with one Gen-Zer who describes the horrors of working a 9-5 job. 

“I don’t have time for anything, and I’m, like, so stressed out,” she said near the end of the video. 

🤡 pic.twitter.com/JXqZuHLM7o

— Clown World ™ 🤡 (@ClownWorld_) October 25, 2023

In a separate video, this Gen-Zer was fired up. She said, “Working a 9-5 is the biggest f*cking scam out there.” She said her numerous jobs “could not pay her f*cking bills.” 

The struggle is real for the new generation, which is just now learning that working a 9-5 isn’t as easy as college. pic.twitter.com/FvAeYkTddt

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) October 25, 2023

Another Gen-Zer said, “I did the math – you can’t retire in this economy.” 

A lot of people seem to think this mindset is unique to Gen Z. It’s not.

Every generation goes through this. Watch Reality Bites, where a group of 20-somethings in the early 90s deal with the exact same struggles and emotions as described in this video.

pic.twitter.com/7h1gAN3c7R

— Matthew Kobach 🍕 (@mkobach) October 20, 2023

A New York Times-Siena poll conducted from July 23 to 27 revealed that only 4% of individuals aged 18-30 hold a very favorable view of the president, compared to 17% among the general population. This outcome, stemming from what is perceived as Biden’s failures in the economy, indicates a significant shift in support among the younger working-class demographic, posing a potential crisis for the Democratic Party in next year’s presidential election cycle. 

Also, Gen-Zers are making it clear they will not fight any wars for the military-industrial complex. 

Your #GenZ nugget for the night.
Prepare accordingly. 😆 pic.twitter.com/MgoMlkMcYC

— T (@Krommsan) October 23, 2023

Seems like gender studies is not preparing these young folks for the real world. 

Serious note, I started the magazine when I was a journalist and worked six days a week 12 hours a day!

built it to $12m in revenue off my credit cards when I was her age — but whose counting 😂😂

— @jason (@Jason) October 26, 2023

… and these kids will one day be the leaders of the US. Empire in decline?

Authored by Ron Brisé via RealClear Wire,

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the government regulator that oversees the state’s electric and gas utilities, is facing a critical decision on important investments PG&E has proposed to improve the resiliency of California’s electric grid. I have been in their position, and I know how it feels to balance badly needed upgrades to the grid that can help improve resiliency and safety versus increasing costs for customers as they are facing higher costs for everyday expenses. 

As a former Public Service Commissioner in Florida, a state that is consistently besieged by severe weather and hurricanes, I want to share with Californians the actions we took in Florida, to make our electric grid more resilient. Indeed, these grid hardening efforts have meant a more reliable and cost-efficient electricity for every resident.  

Consider when Hurricane Ian hit the southwest coast of Florida last year and moved across the state causing great destruction – most people in the path of the storm only lost power for a few days or less. For context, Ian stands as the costliest hurricane in Florida history. 

Florida was able to rebound quickly because prior to Hurricane Ian, the Florida Public Service Commission made a tough decision to invest billions of dollars in hardening our electric infrastructure. Those investments helped the state be more resilient to storms and quicken the pace of restoration efforts. The good news is that Florida has continued to make these kinds of investments. Just last year, the Florida Public Service Commission approved four plans submitted by power companies to allow approximately $22 billion to be invested in hardening the state power grid. 

What we’ve learned in Florida, is that performing emergency repairs on the power grid after every hurricane is a much greater financial burden than hardening the grid ahead of disasters. Or, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

California was hit with a hurricane this year, but that was likely a unique event. By far, the greatest environmental threat to life, property and the power remaining on for customers is wildfires started by downed or damaged power lines. While there are ways to reduce that threat, like trimming vegetation around the power lines – by far the greatest preventative method is burying those lines known as undergrounding. 

With this in mind, PG&E, the largest electric utility in the state, has proposed burying 10,000 miles of lines in the areas with the greatest fire risk. The company has made steady and significant progress toward this goal since announcing the target in 2021, and has pledged to increase the pace, while reducing the per-mile cost, as the years roll on.

Recently, PG&E submitted plans to the CPUC to place roughly 2,000 additional miles underground in the next three years. This would result in customers paying about $3.40 per month in their electric bill in exchange for eliminating 98% of wildfire risk on these lines. However, the CPUC is currently considering limiting PG&E to just 200 miles of undergrounding, or as little as 50 miles per year.

My hope is that the CPUC can learn from our experience in Florida. We had to balance the cost of hardening investments versus the cost of doing just the minimum or nothing at all. 

As our climate continues to warm, it seems more likely than not that California will experience more wildfires, not fewer. And, if those fires occur, the loss of lives and property and damage to communities and the state’s economy will be a far greater price than the cost of undergrounding. 

It’s also fair to say that PG&E’s undergrounding plan will help protect against wildfires and help reduce outages due to extreme weather conditions. 

I understand firsthand how tough it is to ask customers to pay more. The district that I represented in the Florida House of Representatives held a significant number of low-income customers. What the CPUC must also acknowledge is that grid hardening is critical for the state and local economy and the most vulnerable residents. After all, those individuals are least likely to be able to evacuate until power is restored. These folks, including senior citizens, are the ones who suffer the most from a vulnerable power grid. Additionally, the commission must consider the long-term benefits of undergrounding that will help reduce the need for prolonged Public Safety Power Shutoffs, which can take a toll on the state’s most vulnerable communities.  

Without the kind of infrastructure investments proposed by PG&E, California will still face risks from wildfires. It’s time for California to learn from our experience in Florida and make the critical decision to invest in undergrounding and grid hardening for the good of its citizens.

Ronald Brisé is the former Chair of the Florida Public Service Commission, a former member of the Florida House of Representatives, and is an energy industry expert.

With The Magnificent 7 stocks getting clubbed like a baby seal in recent days, hope is high that Amazon can save the world (as Nasdaq broke below a key technical level today).

The good news – a top- and bottom-line beat:

• Net sales increased 13% to $143.1 billion in the third quarter (better than the $141.56 billion consensus), compared with $127.1 billion in third quarter 2022.

• *AMAZON 3Q EPS 94C, EST. 58C

Amazon’s advertising division also beat expectations with revenue of $12.1 billion, up from $9.6 billion a year ago, meaning its business is holding up better than Meta’s as advertisers pull back.

“We had a strong third quarter as our cost to serve and speed of delivery in our Stores business took another step forward, our AWS growth continued to stabilize, our Advertising revenue grew robustly, and overall operating income and free cash flow rose significantly,” said Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO.

“The benefits of moving from a single national fulfillment network in the U.S. to eight distinct regions are exceeding our optimistic expectations, and perhaps most importantly, putting us on pace to deliver the fastest delivery speeds for Prime customers in our 29-year history.”

However, breaking down the business lines, AWS disappointed (very modestly) as did Physical Stores…

• Amazon 3Q Physical Stores Net Sales $4.96B, Est. $4.99B

• Amazon 3Q AWS Net Sales $23.06B, Est. $23.13B

• Amazon 3Q Subscription Services Net Sales $10.17B, Est. $10.13B

But, AWS operating income improved to $7.0 billion (highest in history), compared with operating income of $5.4 billion in third quarter 2022, but sales growth at AWS (in constant currency) stuck at record low 12%…

Of course, Jassy highlighted AI:

“The AWS team continues to innovate and deliver at a rapid clip, particularly in generative AI, where the combination of our custom AI chips, Amazon Bedrock being the easiest and most flexible way to build and deploy generative AI applications, and our coding companion (CodeWhisperer) allowing enterprises to have the equivalent of an experienced engineer who understands all of their proprietary code is driving momentum with customers, including adidas, Booking.com, GoDaddy, LexisNexis, Merck, Royal Philips, and United Airlines, all of whom are starting to run generative AI workloads on AWS. Between AWS re:Invent and our 29th holiday shopping season, this is a particularly action-packed time of year at Amazon and we’re excited for what’s to come.”

Finally, Amazon appears to have lowered guidance, or at the very least, adjusted it to a much lower band:

• Amazon Sees 4Q Net Sales $160.0B to $167.0B, Est. $166.57B

 The slightly weaker-than-expected guidance is the latest sign of weakening consumer spending heading into the holiday season.

For now, investors are shrugging off the sales guidance and AWS miss with shares up large after hours (after an ugly day session)…

Will AMZN reverse like MSFT and META?

An avalanche of macro data this morning presented a positive blend of updates across growth (better), inflation (lower), and labor markets (looser/worse).

• Economic Growth: Real GDP rose 4.9% in 3Q (consensus 4.5%) driven by strong demand across consumer and federal/state government, and inventories. However, a major contribution from inventories could in turn weigh significantly on growth in 4Q

• Manufacturing: Orders for Durable and core capital goods also grew by more than expected… thanks to a massive surge in non-defense aircraft orders (so don’t expect it to last).

• Housing: Pending home sales rose 1.1% month over month in September, above expectations for a decline… but brace for October to be a bloodbath as mortgage rates re-accelerated.

• Inflation: Core PCE prices component of the GDP report rose less than expected.

• Labor: Initial and continuing jobless claims both increased by more than expected — a positive for markets which are focused on labor market re-balancing (i.e., could benefit from less wage inflation).

The ECB followed The Fed with a ‘pause’ (as expected), but for now, the monetary policy transmission route of tightening US financial conditions are NOT reaching the economy…

Source: Bloomberg

All of that sent bond yields flying lower (down 8-11bps across the curve)…

Source: Bloomberg

…along with big-tech – which has pushed the Magnificent 7 stocks to a total market cap loss of around $1 trillion in the last two weeks…

Source: Bloomberg

Also, Nasdaq down, yields down…

Source: Bloomberg

…haven’t seen that much recently.

A volatile day in equity-index land today (just look at the scale of those swings) but Nasdaq was always the biggest loser (thanks to GOOGL – and MSFT!) and Small Caps were the prettiest horse in the glue factory (managing to hold on to modest gains on the day)…

The constant ebb and flow of short-squeeze attempts was there of course…but failed to help today…

Source: Bloomberg

VIX spiked up to just shy of a 22 handle today.

Cyclicals have been dominated by Defensives this month and today saw the performance gap widen…

Source: Bloomberg

The Nasdaq Composite joined the rest of the majors below its 200DMA today… (Nasdaq 100 still barely above its 200DMA)…

2Y tumbled after weaker than expected core PCE, back near 5.00% at two-week lows

Source: Bloomberg

30Y broke below 5.00%

Source: Bloomberg

The yield curve (2s30s) un-inverted again intraday (twice), but was unable to hold it…

Source: Bloomberg

Gold was flat on the day, having tested above $2000 (futs) overnight…

Oil dumped back yesterday’s gains today with WTI testing down to a $82 handle (and still holding just above pre-Israel-attack levels…

Finally, is the AI exuberance about to be annihilated?

Source: Bloomberg

As goes NVDA, so goes the entire world?

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

During a hearing Wednesday, Republican Senator Josh Hawley exposed how Biden Administration officials have no idea what is happening to masses of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) after they are released into the country.

Hawley grilled Office of Refugee Resettlement Director Robin Dunn Marcos, noting that trafficking of migrant children has skyrocketed under Biden.

The New York Times recently reported that the Department of Health and Human Services has completely lost content with at least 85,000 UACs since they were released to adult sponsors.

“How many kids, right now, of the 430,000 approximately unaccompanied children who have crossed the border under this administration — it’s an astounding number — how many are you in regular contact with right now?” Hawley asked the official.

After attempting to skirt around the answer, Marcos said “I don’t have the specific number.”

“How can you not know? Why would you come to this hearing and not know?” an astounded Hawley replied.

The Senator continued, “Respectfully, I would like you to do your job and not release children to human traffickers. Respectfully, that’s what I would like. I would like you to not facilitate the largest child trafficking ring in American history.”

Marcos also could not give any details of how many background checks are carried out on adult sponsors.

“Do you do home visits in these cases where you can actually see where these children are being released, whose care you’re putting them in?” Hawley asked, to which Dunn Marcos responded, “We do not do home visits in all cases.”

“Do you really think that you are helping these children by releasing them to labor traffickers and yes, sex traffickers?” Hawley further noted, adding “85,000 children whom you have no contact with and your answer is—we gave them a presentation before we turned them over to these people who are exploiting them on a scale not seen in this country for 100 years.”

Watch the full exchange:

Hawley previously slammed DHS head Mayorkas for overseeing child slavery inside the U.S.:

The rest of Wednesday’s hearing exposed how Biden officials seem to be totally clueless about what is happening to the millions of illegal immigrants that are entering the country:

MUST WATCH: Officials from Biden’s State Dept and Dept of Homeland Security have absolutely no idea how many illegal immigrants have entered the country, how many were children, how many are still here, or how many have claimed asylum. pic.twitter.com/UhfNQyUVpf

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 25, 2023

“Did you know that in 2022, people from 174 different countries came to our border and were released?”

Biden State Dept official Joseph Salazar: “No”

“Did you know so far in 2023, people from 143 countries have come to our border and been released?”

Salazar: “No” pic.twitter.com/MWfDOeqYkI

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 25, 2023

Democrats continue to assert that by raising such questions Republicans are engaged in an effort to “sabotage” the Biden administration’s effort to “fix” the border:

Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman — with a straight face — claims “Republicans are trying to sabotage the Biden administration’s efforts to fix the issues at the border” pic.twitter.com/2VoOvRmbWy

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 25, 2023

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Biden National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan just made a fool of himself – boasting in an essay published Wednesday for Foreign Affairs that the Biden administration had “de-escalated crises in Gaza,” and that their “foreign policy for a changed world” is leading to a “freer and more stable world.”

“The Israeli-Palestinian situation is tense, particularly in the West Bank,” Sullivan wrote, “but in the face of serious frictions, we have de-escalated crises in Gaza and restored direct diplomacy between the parties after years of its absence.”

Then Hamas attacked Israel sparking a war, causing Sullivan to scramble and eliminate much of the above from the online edition of the article.

The print edition, however, still contains the embarrassing boasts, according to the Free Beacon.

Publications rarely allow an author to make substantial changes after a piece has been sent to print, revisions are generally reserved for factual errors. But the digital edits to Sullivan’s piece are immense, and undermine his original argument that Biden is forging peace in the Middle East.

In lieu of Sullivan’s boast that “we have de-escalated crises in Gaza,” the online version of his article notes: “The original version of this article emphasized that this progress was fragile and that perennial challenges remained, including tensions between Israel and Palestinians and the threat posed by Iran. The October 7 attacks have cast a shadow over the entire regional picture, the repercussions of which are still playing out, including the risk of significant regional escalation.”

Sullivan also claimed in the print edition of his article that Biden’s outreach to Middle Eastern leaders “emphasizes deterring aggression, de-escalating conflicts, and integrating the region through joint infra- structure projects and new partnerships, including between Israel and its Arab neighbors. And it is bearing fruit.”

Now, Sullivan writes that the White House is “alert to the risk that the current crisis could spiral into a regional conflict.”

And if the print edition hadn’t been sent out for publication before the Hamas attack on Israel, the Ministry of Truth would have gotten away with stealth-editing Sullivan’s embarrassing screed.

Sullivan’s article follows a boast in September at the Atlantic Festival that “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.”

As the Beacon’s Joseph Simonson also notes, Sullivan “has presided over a number of foreign policy failures including the “kinetic military action” campaign against Libya in 2011, the 2014 Iran nuclear deal, and the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of 13 Americans. “

Iran has become more vocal in its threats against Israel, in response to the soaring death toll in Gaza, which has surpassed 7,000 Gazans killed. Prime Minister Netanyahu has at the same time announced “thousands” of terrorists have been eliminated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Israel has further said it took out three top Hamas commanders in the last several hours.

On Thursday, Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned that if Israel sends ground forces into the Strip, the IDF will be “buried”. He stated: “If the Zionists launch a ground attack in Gaza, they will be buried. If the enemies think that the Muslims will watch these crimes from the sidelines, they are gravely mistaken,” according to a translation in regional media. He also aimed the comments at Washington, saying “the US will be buried by the fire they lit.”

“If the evil people of the world want to carry out a foolish act such as invading the Palestinian territories, they will face a miserable failure and receive a decisive response from the resistance front,” the IRGC statement added.

The US has already parked one carrier strike group in waters off Israel, with another en route, and has been repeatedly warning Tehran not to get involved. National security spokesman John Kirby this week said the US administration stands ready to mount a “decisive response” if Iran or its proxies attack US bases.

However, this appears to already be happening. There has been well over a dozen drone and missile attacks on bases in Iraq and Syria over the past week, with the latest happening Thursday.

There are fresh reports that Iraqi Shia militia groups have launched cross-border attacks on a US installation in northeast Syria. These sporadic attacks now threaten to become a daily event. And now this from Politico on Thursday…

Nineteen American service members stationed in Iraq and Syria have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury after rocket and drone attacks from Iran-backed militants last week. https://t.co/dRkEbclN1U

— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) October 26, 2023

Adding further to tensions between Washington and Tehran, fresh Wall Street Journal reporting this week has found that Hamas operatives behind the Oct.7 terrorist attack were given specialized training in Iran. According to the report, this involved up to 500 militants:

In the weeks leading up to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, hundreds of the Palestinian Islamist militant group’s fighters received specialized combat training in Iran, according to people familiar with intelligence related to the assault.

Roughly 500 militants from Hamas and an allied group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, participated in the exercises in September, which were led by officers of the Quds Force, the foreign-operations arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the people said.

Senior Palestinian officials and Iranian Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani, the head of Quds Force, also attended, they said.

But then strangely, the same report quotes US officials as saying they can’t verify whether the training on Iranian soil was directly in preparation for the Oct.7 attacks (or else possibly “routine”), which took the lives of at least 1,400 Israelis and foreigners. 

“U.S. officials said Iran has regularly trained militants in Iran and elsewhere, but they have no indications of a mass training right before the attack,” WSJ writes. “U.S. officials and the people familiar with the intelligence said they had no information to suggest Iran conducted training specifically to prepare for the events of Oct. 7.”

🚨BREAKING – IRANIAN ARMY:

‘The start of large-scale maneuvers for all ground forces formations starting tomorrow’

These exercises are typically conducted to enhance readiness, test strategies, and improve the overall operational capabilities of the military, but could also be… pic.twitter.com/bA4PhZ3ww3

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) October 26, 2023

Given the fact that the terror assault involved paragliders, militants on motorcycles, coordinated assault teams with explosives, and other capabilities not used this effectively in the past – many analysts believe the planning for the attack had to have taken many months or even years.