TRUMP'S PLAN IS NOT THE GAZA THAT ISRAEL, AFTER INDESCRIBABLE COST IN LOST LIVES AND GLOBAL REPUTATION, WANTED AND NEEDS TO SEE AFTER THE WAR

Hamas strengthens and the PA returns — this is no recipe for security and stability

As the terror group bolsters its hold on Gaza, a Palestinian Authority-led administration ostensibly prepares to govern alongside it, at odds with it, and outmuscled by it. Whatever happened to Israel’s war goals?

 

By David Horovitz 

 

The Times of Israel

Feb 4, 2026

 

 

Ali Shaath (center) and his National Committee for the Administration of Gaza 

  

Israel went to war after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre with two essential goals: to get back the hostages, and to destroy Hamas and any other potential deadly threats to Israel. Among the subsequent conditions Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also vowed to impose was that there would be no role for the Palestinian Authority in a postwar Gaza unless the PA underwent radical reform.

With the return of all the hostages, living and dead, and the Trump administration’s declaration that we have now entered phase two of the US president’s broad Gaza peace plan, however, Hamas still rules half of Gaza, is targeting Israeli troops in the other half, and is not planning to disarm. And the PA, in more and less overt guises, is assuming a significant role during this fuzzy period of semi-war, semi-ceasefire. The Mahmoud Abbas-led PA, that, in a previous iteration, Hamas murderously and swiftly booted out of Gaza when seizing power there almost 20 years ago.

At President Donald Trump’s instruction, the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been reopened to limited entry and exit of people. And it is the PA, along with Egypt and European representation, that is managing the process — a fact that official Israel prefers not to acknowledge. (Israel, it should be stressed, is vetting and thus determining who is permitted to come in or go out, just not at the crossing itself.)

Furthermore, the main body formally delegated to oversee Gaza’s civil governance, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), is largely a Palestinian Authority entity. Its Gaza-born chief commissioner, Ali Shaath, is a former deputy minister in the PA. Several more of its members have held posts in the PA, including Sami Nasman, assigned the Interior portfolio, a senior figure in the PA’s General Intelligence Service. (Nasman fled Gaza over 30 years ago, wanted by the Shin Bet over the alleged killing of collaborators during the First Intifada, and came back at the time of Yasser Arafat’s return in 1994.)

It was Shaath who announced, in a video message broadcast during Trump’s launch ceremony for Gaza’s Board of Peace in Davos on January 22, that the Rafah Crossing was about to reopen in both directions, possibly blindsiding and certainly discomfiting the Israeli government.

Shaath and his team are supposed to enter Gaza next week to take up their responsibilities — operating in the half of the Strip controlled by Hamas, which was directly involved in the talks in Egypt that determined who would sit on the committee.

Ahead of its first days on the job, the NCAG this week cut through the diplomatic euphemisms and misnomers and changed its logo — from the original design of a bird in Palestinian colors to the PA’s very own eagle with flag symbol, merely switching the word “Palestine” to NCAG. A case of “in your face, Israel.”

 

The newly changed logo of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, now nearly identical to that of the Palestinian Authority.

 

 

What the symbol symbolizes, of course, is that the PA is back in Gaza. Back, that is, alongside, at odds with, and outmuscled by its sometime rival, ally and enemy Hamas.

Practically speaking, this portends a West Bank-style reality for Israel.

Netanyahu will likely resist withdrawing the IDF any further from the Strip, because Hamas will either overtly refuse to disarm or attempt to disguise its retention of weaponry by ostensibly entrusting it to the NCAG — the committee it helped select and with which it will have an extremely fraught relationship.

After four hours of talks with Trump’s key envoy Steve Witkoff on Tuesday evening — talks that surely focused in large part on Trump’s preparation for war and/or diplomacy with Iran — a brief statement from Netanyahu’s office chose to focus on Gaza. It emphasized Israel’s uncompromising demand for Hamas to be disarmed, Gaza to be demilitarized, and the PA to be excluded from “governing the Strip in any way.”

But rhetoric aside, the PA is already playing a role in Gaza. And Hamas, as the IDF recently informed Netanyahu, is deepening its hold on the non-IDF-held half of the Strip — including by “integrating its operatives into government ministries and the security apparatuses.”

As things stand, Hamas will continue targeting Israeli troops. The IDF will continue to hit back. In the short term, the US will doubtless attempt to maintain the ceasefire that came into effect in October, Trump may repeat his declared assessment that Hamas “is going to disarm,” and he may keep on declaring that he brought peace to Gaza.

But what is unfolding on the ground is no recipe for security and stability. It stems at least in part from Netanyahu’s failure in the highly complex task of enabling the installation of credible, effective non-Hamas governance. With the government seeking to eliminate Hamas, and refusing to consider the PA for any legitimizing role in an international mechanism, we are winding up with both of them. And that certainly does not meet Israel’s essential war goals.

This is not the Gaza that Israel, after indescribable cost in lost lives and in its global reputation, wanted and needs to see after the war.

EVEN IF YOU OPPOSE TRUMP, THE CONSEQUENCES OF ALLOWING THE COUNTRY TO GO DOWN A RABBIT HOLEIN WHICH A 'RESISTANCE' IS SEEKING TO THWART ALLEGED NAZIS - I.E. THE ELECTED GOVERNMENT'S EFFORTS TO ENFORCE THE LAW - IS A CATASTROPHE FOR DEMOCRACY

The resistance rabbit hole and the end of democracy

Legitimizing Nazi comparisons to ICE agents and treating the debate about illegal immigration as akin to a fight against fascism cannot be separated from the rise of left-wing antisemitism. 

 

By Jonathan S. Tobin 

 

JNS

Feb 4, 2026

 

 

 

People partake in a "National Shutdown" protest against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 30, 2026.

 

For those who oppose President Donald Trump, the tragic shootings of two individuals in Minneapolis last month while protesting efforts to enforce immigration laws, demonstrated that the administration has gone too far. But it is now also painfully clear that the now widespread and growing willingness of his opponents to analogize both the president and the agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency with German Nazis has also taken this debate beyond the bounds of acceptable public discourse.

And it’s imperative that the pushback against not merely cheapening the memory of the Holocaust, but the sort of rhetoric that is antithetical to a working democracy, not just come from the president’s supporters or others who agree with his policies. To date, there haven’t been many indications that there actually is a critical mass of centrist Democrats who are ready to take on the left wing of their party over this matter. But, as with the increasing volume of antisemitism and anti-Zionism coming from some of the same people throwing around irresponsible Nazi comparisons, it’s important that the debate about this issue not be one fought strictly along party lines.

A debate among Democrats?

So, it was encouraging to see that one Democrat whose experiences have become part of the discussion about the normalization of the tropes of Jew-hatred in his party was willing to speak up about the escalation of the rhetoric about Trump and ICE. Last month, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro injected himself into the debate about antisemitism. Now, he’s spoken up about comparisons between ICE and the Nazis, and is being roundly bashed by left-wing Democrats.

Whether or not this is a cynical tactic by an ambitious liberal politician looking to position himself in the moderate lane in the 2028 Democratic presidential race doesn’t really matter. That can be true even if it turns out that there is no room at the top of the Democratic ticket for anyone who says such things. What’s needed most is a willingness on the part of people on both sides of the political aisle to oppose the way that extremists are seizing control of the public square.

The point being that even if you oppose Trump, the consequences of allowing the country to go down a rabbit hole in which a “resistance” is seeking to thwart alleged Nazis—i.e., the elected government’s efforts to enforce the law—is a catastrophe for democracy. Just as important, it needs to be recognized that those who are pushing this kind of discourse are largely the same voices that have promoted blood libels about Israel committing “genocide” and fueling a surge in Jew-hatred.

Though he claims to be solely focused on what is likely to be an easy campaign for re-election as governor, Shapiro, 52, laid down a marker for 2028 by discussing his vetting for the vice presidency in 2024 by Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s staff. He does that in his new memoir, Where We Keep the Light.

His revelation that Harris’s handlers asked him if he had “ever been an agent of the Israeli government,” or if he was prepared to apologize for condemning the mob-like protests and tent encampments at the University of Pennsylvania in the wake of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, may have shocked many observers. But it was no secret that some prominent Democrats, including then-President Joe Biden and Harris, were so intimidated by their party’s intersectional left-wing base that they were falling over themselves to distance themselves from Israel and its supporters. Many Democrats thought the fact that Shapiro—though a conventional political liberal and by no means an outspoken supporter of the Jewish state’s efforts to defend itself against Hamas terrorists—was simply too Jewish and insufficiently anti-Israel to fit on their presidential ticket in 2024.

Shapiro is obviously seeking to preempt efforts by left-wing Democrats to recycle that talking point in 2028. And by criticizing Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s claims that ICE agents are “wannabe Nazis” and calling those remarks “abhorrent,” he was similarly seeking to draw a broad distinction between centrist Democrats like himself and the party’s hardline base.

In response, Krasner bashed Shapiro as a “wimp” who was knuckling under to a Republican administration that was using a “Nazi” and “fascist playbook.”

Does this tiff on the left matter?

To conservatives who have become infuriated by the way liberals and left-wingers alike are opposing the efforts of ICE agents to enforce laws and repair the enormous damage done to the country by the previous administration’s open borders policies, Shapiro’s comments are too little and too late.

Instead, they think the main issue is whether Democrats reviving the “resistance” tactics they employed during Trump’s first four years in the White House will derail the president’s second term. And they rightly think that the liberal media’s pile-on against Trump and ICE in the aftermath of the deaths in January of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37, is transparent partisanship. It is part of an effort to ensure that the president can’t fulfill his campaign pledges to deport the millions of illegal aliens, including those who have committed more crimes since entering the United States, let in under Biden. They are particularly exorcised by the way the liberal media has focused on the plight of Good and Pretti but have largely ignored the stories of the many Americans who have been murdered by illegal aliens protected by the Democrats’ “sanctuary city” laws from being arrested by ICE and deported.

The media’s sole focus on the alleged meanness of this roundup of criminals—whose invasion of the country has had a catastrophic impact on working-class wages and housing costs, as well as overwhelming the social services of many communities—is not a reasonable critique of ICE. It’s a campaign to distract the country from the cost of illegal immigration, and in particular, the welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota by Somali immigrants that diverted billions to lawbreakers, including some connected to terrorism.

Parallel causes

Though they’re not wrong about that, the question of how to conduct a debate about illegal immigration in America is equally important. And that is why the divide between conventional liberals like Shapiro and ideologues like Krasner deserves our attention.

Krasner is a typical example of the sort of pro-criminal prosecutors that have been elected in cities around the country by the efforts of left-wing billionaire George Soros. Many on the left have falsely claimed that criticisms of Soros—a Jew born in Hungary who has used his money to fund a host of extremist groups, including those who oppose the existence of the State of Israel—are inherently antisemitic. But there is nothing antisemitic about pointing out that his efforts to “reform” the criminal justice system by largely dropping enforcement of the laws are making many cities unlivable.

Krasner, whose father was Jewish, likes to play the antisemitism card against his and Soros’s critics. Still, he did little to defend Jewish students when they were being targeted by pro-Hamas mobs in the aftermath of Oct. 7. Indeed, his visit to an encampment of Israel-bashers at Penn, along with pro-Hamas Philadelphia City Council member Jamie Gauthier, sent the message that Jewish safety was not his priority.

That people like Krasner are doubling down with claims that Trump and ICE are Nazis, while not opposing those who seek Jewish genocide or cheer for it here in the United States, is not an accident. The notion that Trump’s efforts to stop illegal immigration by closing the border and arresting those who have entered without permission are a crime against humanity has its roots in the same toxic leftist ideologies that falsely claim that Jews and Israelis are “white” oppressors. And those who think that it’s a righteous cause to obstruct, harass and attack ICE officers while they are carrying out their duties seem to be cut from the same cloth as those chanting for Jewish genocide (“From the river to the sea”) and terrorism against Jews everywhere (“globalize the intifada”).

So if Shapiro and the few other Democrats speaking up against such excesses, like Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), another legislator Krasner has derided as a “sellout” for criticizing his Nazi analogies, can help shift the national discussion away from this destructive, anti-democratic resistance narrative, that’s something that should be encouraged. That is the case even if you disagree with some or many of their political stands.

Avoiding violence

It can be argued that the shootings amid Minneapolis mayhem were proof that ICE agents have not received sufficient training to be able to deal with the problems of crowd control. As a result, they have made fatal mistakes under pressure. That can be true even if the shootings were not crimes and the protesters were far from the nonviolent saints the liberal media have been depicting. Violence could also have been avoided if local authorities, including Gov. Tim Walz, who himself falsely compared the illegals to Holocaust diarist Anne Frank, had cooperated with federal authorities rather than obstructing them.

But what has happened isn’t merely the result of a possible shift in the national mood on the issue of what to do about a situation the Biden administration created when it stopped enforcing the laws, allowing several million illegals to enter the United States with impunity. Trump’s opponents aren’t merely protesting what they consider to be bad or illicit behavior by ICE agents. They are treating all of the agency’s efforts to arrest migrants with deportation orders as proof that the United States is now governed by fascists who are employing the moral equivalent of Nazi storm troopers to target the innocent.

Making that leap from a normal debate about policy to a position in which much of the Democratic Party is now speaking as if it is conducting a “resistance” against an illegitimate authoritarian government that must be stopped by any means possible has not just caused chaos in Minneapolis. It is, once again, turning up the political temperature to the point where apocalyptic pronouncements about the end of American democracy—routine throughout the 2022 and 2024 election cycles—are not just being recycled. The overheated and disingenuous rhetoric of Trump’s foes is creating an atmosphere in which normal political discourse is being replaced by hyperbole inciting the kind of street violence that is antithetical to democracy.

It is that same sort of ideological framework that has been on display since Oct. 7, as antisemitic invective, coupled with the delegitimization of Israel and Jewish rights, was mainstreamed and normalized. A country where the rule of law is considered less important than leftist ideological objectives about illegal immigration is one where Jew-hatred and anti-Zionist politics will also become mainstream.

Wherever you may stand on immigration, the damage done to U.S. political discourse by misguided Holocaust analogies and efforts to depict the debate as one against fascism can’t be denied. That’s why it is important that as broad a cross-section of Americans as possible reject the language and actions of those who are justifying “resistance,” rather than loyal opposition. This is a debate that need not pit Republicans against Democrats; it’s one of the reasonable political center versus extremists on both ends of the spectrum. If that doesn’t happen, then it will become not just a matter of street violence about immigration but an environment in which extremist Jew-haters will be emboldened.

NO SURPRISE HERE IF MICHELLE BACHELET BECOMES UN SECRETARY GENERAL ... AFTER ALL, IT'S THE JEW-HATING UN

Anti-Israel, former president of Chile nominated as next UN secretary-general

Michelle Bachelet, who green-lit a blacklist of companies operating in Judea and Samaria, could replace outgoing United Nations chief António Guterres. 

 

By Mike Wagenheim 

 

JNS

Feb 2, 2026

 

 

Michelle Bachelet, then-U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and former President of Chile.

 

Backed by Mexico and Brazil, Gabriel Boric, Chile’s outgoing president, nominated former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, a harsh critic of the Jewish state, to be the next secretary-general of the United Nations.

Boric, who is also anti-Israel, made the announcement on Monday. José Antonio Kast, a right-wing politician set to assume the Chilean presidency next month, would be unlikely to nominate Bachelet, 74, for the role.

Bachelet, who was Chile’s president twice—from 2006-10 and 2014-18—was the first head of U.N. Women and served as U.N. high commissioner for human rights.

She was a frequent critic of the Jewish state, which broke ties with her office in 2020 over her decision to implement a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution mandating the publication of a blacklist of companies engaged in business in Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem.

According to U.N. Watch, Bachelet issued 14 comments about Israel, more than any democratic country. She made the same number of statements about Syria and fewer about Iran, according to the watchdog.

Bachelet used her final hours in office to decry Israel over its denial of visas to her staff. She ignored antisemitic comments made by a member of the Human Rights Council’s commission of inquiry on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for which the commissioner later apologized.

The United Nations has never had a female secretary-general. The other nominees are Rebeca Grynspan, former second vice-president of Costa Rica and currently secretary-general of the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development; Mexican environment and natural resources secretary Alicia Bárcena; and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

Rafael Grossi, the Argentinian head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has also been nominated.

Latin America is up next in the traditional U.N. rotation of world regions. Portugal’s António Guterres is secretary-general until the end of the year.

TALKING OUT BOTH SIDES OF HIS FACE

By Bob Walsh

 

 

 

Gavin Newsom was out and about yesterday crowing about how wonderful the California High-Speed Rail Authority was and how CA was going to fund it because that big meanie Donald Trump was pulling federal money out.

He was, at the same time, acting to HIDE as much information as possible from the general public about the project.

California AB 1608 would allow the Inspector General for the project (it has it's own IG) to withhold records from the public "that could reveal weaknesses that could be exploited by individuals attempting to harm the interests of the state or inappropriately benefit from the project."  In order to do this the bill would allow the IG to keep confidential "personal papers and correspondence of any person providing assistance to the Inspector General when that person has requested in writing that their papers and correspondence be kept private and confidential."

The governor's office has denied any knowledge of this proposal.  Nobody believes it.  The mean reason nobody believes it, besides that fact that Gavin Newsom is a lying sack of shit in general, is that his office has filed a virtually identical legislative proposal for consideration.

THIS COULD BE AMUSING, IF IT HAPPENS

By Bob Walsh

 

It seems that congress is going to "request" that several governors appear before congress and explain what the fuck happened to literally hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars that have simply vanished into the darkness in their states, primarily on Covid relief and homeless abatement.  

Much of this money appears to have been outright stolen by NGOs who received little to no oversight from the government.

BILL AND HILLARY BOTH PEE ON THEIR OWN SHOES

By Bob Walsh

 

 

 

Both Bill and Hillary Clinton have decided that, once some congressional Democrats got on board, that maybe they really SHOULD appear before congress and say what they know (or deny what they know) under oath regarding their relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.  

They are still working on the details but there is going to be some sort of testimony under oath no mater which way the wind blows.

I wonder if they have ever figured out what the definition of "is" is?

WASHINGTON POST SHRINKING DRAMATICALLY

By Bob Walsh

 

The Washington POST announced today that they are shrinking their staff by about 1/3, including the total elimination of their sports department.

Not that I've ever read the Washington POST, but I decry the decline of print journalism in general.

Market forces can be a bitch.  

SOUTH AFRICA'S DONALD TRUMP

Zulu king demands migrants leave South Africa

 

By Olivia Allhusen

 

Daily Mail

Feb 3, 2026

 

 

Speaking at a public event marking the British defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana, King Misuzulu kaZwelithini used a derogatory term for migrants from neighbouring African countries and said they should be forced to go

 

South Africa's Zulu king has sparked outrage after demanding that migrants leave the country following violent clashes near his home.

Speaking at a public event marking the British defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana, King Misuzulu kaZwelithini used a derogatory term for migrants from neighbouring African countries and said they should be forced to go.

The monarch claimed that growing numbers of South African women were having relationships with foreign men, and said that while any children born from those relationships could remain in the country, the men themselves must leave.

Although the 51-year-old holds no formal political power, his words carry significant weight among South Africa's 12 million Zulus, who view him as a custodian of tradition and a powerful moral authority. 

His remarks come weeks after police were forced to deploy water cannons and stun grenades to break up violent demonstrations at a primary school in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.

The unrest erupted after anti-immigration campaigners accused Addington Primary School of giving priority to the children of migrants over South African pupils.

Local authorities have denied this allegation and said that there was no evidence that immigration had caused a shortage of school places.

 

South Africa's Zulu king has sparked outrage after demanding that migrants leave the country following violent clashes near his home

 

While urging calm and warning supporters not to take the law into their own hands, the king repeated his demand that foreign nationals leave the country. 

Referring to the school clashes, he said: 'What happened at Addington shows that we are being compromised by our sisters. But what can we do, because their children are our nephews and nieces?'

'However, we must sit down and discuss this. Even if my nephew or niece is born of a foreign national, that foreign national must leave, while my nephew or niece should remain.'

The comments were met with cheers from the crowd, prompting the king to laugh as he spoke.

Critics were quick to point out the irony of his remarks, noting that his own mother was from Eswatini and that one of his wives also comes from the neighbouring kingdom.

Xenophobia has long plagued South Africa, with repeated outbreaks of violence against migrants over the past decade.

The king's comments echo those of his late father, Goodwill Zwelithini, who told migrants in 2015 to 'pack their belongings' and leave the country, remarks later ruled 'hurtful and harmful' by the nation's human rights body.

More than ten years on, hostility towards migrants remains a volatile political issue, fuelled by claims that foreigners are taking jobs and benefiting from public services.

South Africa's unemployment rate remains among the highest in the world, hovering at around 33 per cent.

AFTER CLEANING MY EYEGLASSES SEVERAL TIMES DURING THE HALF-HOUR THAT I STUDIED THE PICTURES, I'VE COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THERE'S NOT A DAMN THING WRONG WITH CHAPPELL'S OUTFIT

Chappell Roan fires back at outrage over shockingly revealing Grammys gown that hung from her nipple rings

 

By Deirdre Durkan-Simonds 

 

Daily Mail

Feb 3, 2026 

Chappell Roan is unfazed by the uproar surrounding her headline-making 2026 Grammys outfit 

 

Chappell Roan is unfazed by the uproar surrounding her headline-making 2026 Grammys outfit.

On Monday, the pop star, 27,  addressed the scrutiny over her look after posting a series of Instagram photos showcasing her sheer burgundy gown by Mugler, which featured a daring design that appeared to be secured at the chest with faux piercings and left little to the imagination.

'Giggling because I don't even think this is THAT outrageous of an outfit,' Roan wrote, brushing off critics. 'The look's actually so awesome and weird.' 

She added with a wink, 'I recommend just exercising your free will - it's really fun and silly :D,' before thanking the Grammys and voters for the honor of being nominated. 

Fans quickly rallied behind her in the comments, praising the ensemble as 'exceptional' and 'fearless,' echoing Roan's unapologetic stance.

'Some people have never seen boobs in their life and it shows,' one of her followers joked. 'You looked absolutely INCREDIBLE!'

Upon arriving to the red carpet, the Pink Pony Club singer turned heads as she removed the shawl across her chest and exposed her bare breasts.

Despite her fans fiercely rallying behind her, many social media users took to X to tear apart Roan's racy ensemble, with many suggesting she 'put some clothes on.'

On the red carpet, Roan admitted the attention could be overwhelming. 

While speaking with Zuri Hall, she said she felt 'a bit overstimulated' by the frenzy of cameras.

'People are just filming you and you don't know what you're doing with it,' she explained, calling the carpet 'the hardest part of the whole night.' 

Still, Roan insisted she was 'feeling good,' adding that not performing this year made the evening 'a piece of cake.'

The moment comes after a string of high-profile red-carpet clashes for the Grammy winner. 

At the MTV Video Music Awards, she famously snapped back at a photographer who shouted at her, and later confronted another at a premiere tied to Olivia Rodrigo's Guts World Tour, demanding an apology for what she called disrespectful behavior.

 

On Monday, the pop star, 27, addressed the scrutiny over her look after posting a series of Instagram photos showcasing her daring sheer burgundy gown by Mugler

 

 

'Giggling because I don't even think this is THAT outrageous of an outfit,' Roan wrote, brushing off critics. 'The look's actually so awesome and weird'

She added with a wink, 'I recommend just exercising your free will - it's really fun and silly :D,' before thanking the Grammys and voters for the honor of being nominated

 

That history prompted extra caution from organizers at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony in November, where an attendant was overheard warning photographers to keep things calm ahead of Roan's arrival. 

Although Roan walked away from the Grammy Awards empty-handed, she earned two nominations, for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance, for her single The Subway.

Last year, the star was nominated for six awards and won Best New Artist.

During her acceptance speech, she advocate for better treatment and fair wages for artists. 

'I told myself that if I ever won a Grammy and got to stand up here before the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels in the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and health care, especially developing artists,' she said on stage.

 

Last year, the star was nominated for six awards and won Best New Artist; seen in 2025 

 

Roan continued: 'As I got signed so young, I got signed as a minor. When I got dropped, I had zero job experience under my belt, and like most people, I had … quite a difficult time finding a job in the pandemic and [could not] afford insurance.'

'It was devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system and dehumanized.

'If my label had prioritized it, I could have been provided care for a company I was giving everything to... record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection.'

Chappell ended her speech by declaring: 'Labels, we got you, but do you got us?' earning a huge cheer from the crowd. 

JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME

Alicia Silverstone saves life of pregnant dog and her 12 puppies hours before scheduled euthanasia

 

By Cassie Carpenter 

 

Daily Mail

Feb 3, 2026

 

 

Alicia Silverstone was instrumental in saving the life of a dog and her 12 puppies mere hours before her scheduled euthanasia at a San Bernardino animal shelter due to overcrowding (pictured January 11)

 

Alicia Silverstone was instrumental in saving the life of a dog and her 12 puppies mere hours before her scheduled euthanasia at a San Bernardino animal shelter due to overcrowding.

It all went down six weeks ago when the 49-year-old Clueless alum forwarded the heartbreaking Facebook post to Helen Woodward Animal Center CEO Mike Arms, telling NBC 7 San Diego: 'Her face was just so beautiful and lovely, and so I thought, "Call Mike."'

Arms quickly enlisted his staff at the Rancho Santa Fe Center to rescue the then-pregnant pooch, who immediately gave birth to 14 puppies 'within minutes of their arrival' but sadly two did not make it.

The terrier mix was named Noel in honor of the Christmas holiday and her puppies received 12 Days of Christmas-themed monikers: Drummer, Piper, Lord, Lady, Maid, Swan Goose, Ring, Calling Bird, French Hen, Turtle Dove and Partridge.

'The day they were going to kill her, she happened to have her babies, which is kinda crazy,' marveled Silverstone.

The two-time Daytime Emmy nominee 'couldn't resist fostering four of the' cute canines after she and her 14-year-old son Bear Blu Jarecki visited the HWAC shelter Saturday despite it being 'three weeks before I leave for Europe.'

 

It all went down six weeks ago when the 49-year-old Clueless alum forwarded the heartbreaking Facebook post to Helen Woodward Animal Center CEO Mike Arms, telling NBC 7 San Diego: 'Her face was just so beautiful and lovely, and so I thought, "Call Mike."'

 

'I would have taken them all if I could!' Silverstone gushed on Instagram Monday.

'Yesterday I did nothing but clean pee and poo, feed tiny mouths and try to keep everyone warm and alive. It's the sweetest, most adorable thing… and also complete insanity given everything I need to get done. Praying it was just day one energy!'

The California blonde - whose own adopted dogs have vegan diets like herself - spent Monday tempting her 10.4 million social media following to adopt the adorable foster puppies.

'Just look at these faces. How can you say no?!' Silverstone pleaded.

'These four (and eight of their siblings) need forever homes. If you're read for a life-changer contact @hwac in San Diego [starting mid-February].'

The A Merry Little Ex-Mas producer-star urged her fans to 'stop going to breeders, stop going to pet stores and just rescue.'

Silverstone shares joint custody of her only child with ex-husband Christopher Jarecki, whom she divorced in 2018 after 13 years of marriage.

Last Thursday, the National Film Registry announced they inducted the Golden Globe nominee's breakthrough 1995 film Clueless for preservation by the Library of Congress along with 25 other 'culturally, historically or aesthetically significant' works.

 

Arms quickly enlisted his staff at the Rancho Santa Fe Center to rescue the then-pregnant pooch, who immediately gave birth to 14 puppies 'within minutes of their arrival' but sadly two did not make it

The terrier mix was named Noel in honor of the Christmas holiday and her puppies received 12 Days of Christmas-themed monikers: Drummer, Piper, Lord, Lady, Maid, Swan Goose, Ring, Calling Bird, French Hen, Turtle Dove and Partridge

'The day they were going to kill her, she happened to have her babies, which is kinda crazy,' marveled Silverstone

The two-time Daytime Emmy nominee 'couldn't resist fostering four of the' cute canines after she and her 14-year-old son Bear Blu Jarecki visited the HWAC shelter Saturday despite it being 'three weeks before I leave for Europe'

Silverstone - whose own adopted dogs have vegan diets like herself - spent Monday tempting her 10.4 million social media following to adopt the adorable foster puppies

Last Thursday, the National Film Registry announced they inducted Silverstone's breakthrough 1995 film Clueless for preservation by the Library of Congress along with 25 other 'culturally, historically or aesthetically significant' works

The Bugonia actress is set to reprise her role as lawyer Fiona Fox in the six-episode second season of Acorn TV murder mystery Irish Blood, which begins production in three weeks

 

Silverstone might make an appearance at the 98th Academy Awards - airing March 15 on ABC/Hulu - in order to support her film Bugonia, which scored four nominations including best picture and best adapted screenplay.

The Pretty Thing actress is set to reprise her role as lawyer Fiona Fox in the six-episode second season of Acorn TV murder mystery Irish Blood, which begins production in three weeks.

Silverstone also devotes much of her time preaching the benefits of the plant-based movement through her blog, The Kind Life.

The attachment parent famously claimed in her 2014 book The Kind Mama that a vegan diet prevents postpartum depression as well as curing PMS, breastfeeding issues and MS.

PIRRO GOES OFF THE RAILS, SHREDS THE SECOND AMENDMENT

Trump prosecutor stuns MAGA with chilling Second Amendment threat: 'I don't care if you have a license'

 

By Ross Ibbetson

 

Daily Mail

Feb 3, 20226

 

 

US attorney for the District of Columbia Jeannine Pirro has threatened jail time for anyone who enters Washington armed, including anyone who is a law-abiding gun owner somewhere else.'

 

Jeannine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, has threatened jail time for anyone who enters Washington armed, sparking fury from Republicans.

'You bring a gun into the District, you mark my words, you're going to jail,' Pirro told Fox News on Monday as she touted a historic decline in DC homicides.

 'I don't care if you have a license in another district, and I don't care if you are a law-abiding gun owner somewhere else.'

The declaration sparked a swift backlash from the Republican Party's powerful pro-Second Amendment wing.

Representative Greg Steube of Florida, a US Army veteran, wrote on X: 'I bring a gun into the district every week. I have a license in Florida and DC to carry. And I will continue to carry to protect myself and others. Come and take it!'

Thomas Massie of Kentucky said Pirro's statement was contradicted by a Supreme Court ruling.

'The District of Columbia has been "shall issue" since 2017 when the requirement that you must have a "good reason" to carry a handgun was struck down,' he posted on X. 'Non-residents can obtain a permit in DC - don't ask me how I know.'

The National Association for Gun Rights, an influential lobby group, said these were 'unacceptable and intolerable comments by a sitting US attorney'.

 

Representative Greg Steube of Florida and his wife Jennifer at the White House in June. Steube said, "I bring a gun into the district every week. I have a license in Florida and DC to carry. And I will continue to carry to protect myself and others. Come and take it!" 

Pirro's comments come as the Trump administration has been increasingly at odds with Second Amendment supporters.

White House officials, including the President himself, sought to shift blame onto Alex Pretti for carrying a gun when he was shot dead by Border Patrol agents at a protest in Minneapolis last month.

'I don't like that he had a gun, I don't like that he had two fully loaded magazines, that's a lot of bad stuff,' Trump told reporters in Iowa last week. 

A Second Amendment advocate told Politico after the President's comments: 'I've spent 72 hours on the phone trying to un-f*** this thing. Trump has got to correct his statements now.'

He warned that gun owners would be furious, adding that it imperiled the Republican Party ahead of the midterms: 'They will not come out and vote. He can't correct it three months before the election.'

Carrying a concealed firearm in Washington is legal for those who obtain a District-issued permit, which the Metropolitan Police Department is required to issue if the applicant passes the necessary checks. 

The permit, which can be obtained by non-DC residents, is subject to strict background checks and requires mandatory training. 

The District does not recognize concealed carry permits from any other state.

Possessing a firearm in DC without a permit is a felony punishable by up to five years in jail.

A SECOND GUNMAN?

JFK assassination film held by feds could be worth $900M – and could prove 2nd shooter on ‘grassy knoll’

 

By Geoff Earle

 

New York Post

Feb 1, 2026

 

The granddaughter of Orville Nix, who shot 8mm film of the Kennedy assassination, is fighting in court to force disclosures from the government and get compensation for the film, which is less known than the famous Zapruder film of the incident.

 

A 62-year-old home movie could blow the JFK assassination wide open — and prove once and for all there was a second shooter on the grassy knoll that fateful day.

The grainy 8mm footage, captured by Dallas air conditioner repairman Orville Nix as bullets ripped through Dealey Plaza on Nov. 22, 1963, hasn’t been seen since 1978, when it was sent away for analysis by an LA company and later fell under federal ownership — although the feds claim they don’t have it.

Nix died in 1972, and his granddaughter continued her late dad’s legal war to recover his film — which she’s convinced is worth more than $900 million as it may hold the key to exposing one of history’s biggest cover-ups.

Now a federal judge has ruled that the battle over the film can go forward — and the footage might finally see the light of day.

Unlike the famous Zapruder film showing the moment President John F. Kennedy was shot in the head, Nix’s camera was pointed at the infamous grassy knoll — the exact spot where many witnesses thought shots originated. Conspiracy theorists have long believed a second gunman was hiding behind a fence on the knoll.

The Nix film captured first lady Jackie Kennedy climbing on the back of the presidential limo immediately after her husband was shot — and a view of the fence.

The film could reveal evidence that gunman Lee Harvey Oswald didn’t act alone — thanks to new optic technologies and AI, according to Scott Watnik of Wilk Auslander LLP, a lawyer for Nix’s granddaughter, Linda Gayle Nix Jackson.

 

Orville Nix’s film shows the famous “grassy knoll” that Kennedy conspiracy theories say could have been where a second gunman was located. 

 

“It’s really the only one that is known to have captured the grassy knoll area of Dealey Plaza right as the assassination occurs,” Watnik told The Post, noting that the film could bolster a 1978 House Select Committee on Assassinations report that found Kennedy “was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy.” That panel obtained the Nix film and played a role in the legal saga over its return.

“If we subjected the camera-original film to optics technology of 2026, we can certainly capture details in the film that we never could have captured when … the committee had the film in 1978,” he said.

 

Lawyers for the family say new technology would allow for more advanced analysis to pinpoint what happened. 

 

The FBI, in its own 1980 analysis, found inaccuracies in that report, which relied on acoustic analysis to try to pinpoint the location of a potential second shooter.

During the last six decades, the Nix film has been held by the FBI, news outlet United Press International, Congress, and a private firm called the Aerospace Corporation in Los Angeles, which analyzed it and says it handed it back to the National Archives.

The National Archives in 1988 said it had only a copy of it — and the legal discovery process set forth by Court of Federal Claims Judge Stephen Schwartz in a Jan. 15 order gives lawyers a chance to try to force the government to reveal information about its stewardship.

 

The Warren Commission report concluded Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman who killed Kennedy. 

 

The family’s case rests on the 5th Amendment, which states that the government shall not take property without providing “just compensation” in return.

But the 1992 JFK Records Act law granted the government ownership rights to JFK assassination evidence, while setting up a process for release of records to the public.

 

Zapruder actually appears in the Nix film. Orville Nix

The grassy knoll pictured in the film is central to the “second gunman” theory. 

 

But the family’s massive monetary demand could run into trouble — given that an arbitration panel valued the Nix film’s more famous counterpart, the 8mm film shot by dress maker Abraham Zapruder, at $16 million back in 1999, calling it “a unique historical item of unprecedented worth.”

Lawyers for Nix’s granddaughter cite that value as a benchmark for what Nix’s film might have been worth back then — but want their client to get a whole lot of interest, based on the government’s longtime possession.

“If one were to say this film is worth what that one is worth as of ’92, and you apply 32 years of compound interest at a quarterly compound basis, you start to get numbers in the many, many hundred of millions,” Watnik said. One “preliminary estimate” his team reached was $930 million.

 

The president’s motorcade in Dallas before the assassination. 

 

It’s not just about getting money to Nix’s heirs — Nix’s son, Orville Nix Jr., died in July, slowing proceedings.

Lawyers for Nix Jackson say they want to use the court case and potential trial that would come if no settlement is reached to force new information from the government about how and where it has stored materials, including fragments of JFK’s brain, and recordings of internal communications by Dallas cops the day of the shooting.

“This is evidence of a murder, after all, of our nation’s president,” said Watnik. “So it’s even more important that we know where these records are.” The Nix family’s lawyers aren’t willing to take the government’s responses at face value. Among the Kennedy records they say have become “unlocated” over the years: the original copy of the supplementary autopsy report of the president, up to three photos taken at the autopsy, and Kennedy’s brain.

The National Archives and Records Administration did not respond to a request for comment.

The 1964 Warren Commission report concluded that Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy from the Texas School Book Depository as the president’s motorcade drove past, but conspiracy theorists have long dismissed its conclusions.

TRUMP NEGOTIATING WITH IRAN SEEMS TO BE A REPEAT OF ANOTHER OBAMA FIASCO

Trump shouldn’t fall into the Iran negotiations trap

Tehran’s Islamist despots can’t be trusted to abide by agreements. Throwing them a lifeline, which they will use to go on spreading death and terror, would be a major blunder. 

 

By Jonathan S. Tobin 

 

JNS

Feb2, 2026

 

 

 

President Donald Trump was re-elected to the presidency to drain the swamp in Washington, push back the tide of illegal immigration and roll back the dead hand of toxic woke leftism in American government and society. He wasn’t returned to the White House to enact regime change in Iran or anywhere else. Those two basic truths are the foundation of any argument on behalf of the United States not getting actively involved in the effort to topple the Islamists theocrats in Tehran.

Still, there’s another angle from which to consider that question.

Whatever else was on his agenda or that of his voters, it is equally true that the second Trump administration was not summoned into existence to re-enact the failed foreign policy of former President Barack Obama. And that’s the main thing for the president and his team to remember as they engage in negotiations this week with Iran.

 

 

 

The Islamist regime is sending senior officials to Turkey, where they plan to meet with the president’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, as well as his son-in-law and informal adviser, Jared Kushner. The United States says that a whole range of issues, including Iran’s nuclear program, missiles and terrorism, is on the table. The Iranians say they want only to discuss the nuclear issue.

Obama’s Iran folly

 

 

But that is a formula for Iran to do what it has always done with Western, and especially American, envoys who are desperate for a deal with the mullahs: prevaricate and string the diplomats along until they give up or give in to Tehran’s demands. 

That’s what happened to Obama’s Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived at talks with Iran in 2013 with a strong hand backed by global sanctions that had shaken a regime that was tottering due to domestic unrest. Over the course of the next two years, Kerry abandoned Obama’s demands and campaign promises to end Iran’s nuclear program and to end its role as the world’s leading state sponsor of terror. The result was the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that actually guaranteed that the country would eventually get a nuclear weapon, rather than preventing it from building or acquiring one.

It rescued the Islamist theocrats from the predicament that they had created at home and flooded it with billions in cash used to suppress dissent at home and spread terror around the Middle East.

That’s exactly what Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is hoping will happen again in talks with Trump’s team. It comes at a time when his government has been shaken by massive protests in the past few weeks, which have been suppressed by the murder of as many as 30,000 protesters. Khamenei knows he needs a lifeline. He knows that a repeat of last summer’s joint Israeli-American air campaign aimed at weakening the regime’s ability to project terror abroad might be the spark that finally blows up the Islamist government. A deal right now with Washington will ensure that it survives and lives to fight the “great Satan”—ironically, the United States, the same entity that may give it a lifeline—and Israel, the “little Satan.

That would be bad enough. But the spectacle of repeating the pattern of Obama’s appeasement of Iran by repudiating his promises to the Iranian people that “help is on the way” would be a disaster for Trump’s foreign policy and embolden foes around the globe.

A ‘red line’ precedent

It would also seem to be a repeat of another Obama fiasco. Obama backed off on his 2012 threat to Syrian President Bashar Assad, saying if the despot were to use chemical weapons against his own people, then it would cross a “red line” and ensure a U.S. military response. Nothing came of that; it was another milepost on the road to American decline. By punting on the threat and offshoring the job of dealing with the problem to Russia, Obama threw away American credibility, handing Tehran and its allies a huge and undeserved victory for its plans for regional hegemony.

For the same thing to happen to Trump would be an even greater disaster since his foreign-policy successes have been based on the fact that foreign adversaries and allies have been reluctant to test his mettle in a confrontation. If, under pressure from critics on the far right and far left who oppose a strong stance against Iran, Trump wilts, then no one will or should take his threats seriously again.

It’s entirely true that Trump and the American people would prefer to avoid using military force against Iran, as well as have zero interest in fighting a land war there or engaging in “nation-building.” Washington won’t repeat President George W. Bush’s mistaken policies that landed America and its troops in an Iraqi quagmire. But neither can Trump afford to demonstrate weakness just at the moment when he needs to project strength if he is to deal with this and other ongoing difficulties, like ending the war in Ukraine.

Witkoff and Kushner’s hubris

The dilemma here is partly the trap that talking with an insincere negotiating partner always provides. Trump, Witkoff and Kushner all believe themselves to be master negotiators because of their past work in real estate, coupled with the administration’s successes during the president’s first term, such as brokering the Abraham Accords between Israel and four Muslim-majority countries.

Yet they have already signaled that, like Kerry, they are far too eager for a deal with a regime that is at its best and most lethal when it is pretending to be reaching an agreement with the United States.

The problem, however, transcends the hubris that Witkoff and Kushner will pack in the bags they take to Istanbul. It is also about how to define the Trump approach to foreign policy.

“America First” means viewing the world through a realist prism rather than one determined by fantasies about a rapprochement with people whose main goal is to destroy the West. It also means overturning the conventional wisdom of the D.C. establishment about the value of appeasing the Islamist terror regime and ensuring that it is not allowed to use its oil wealth, nuclear program or its terrorist forces to destabilize the Mideast. And it means helping those who are aiding American foreign-policy goals without necessarily doing all the fighting for them.

Far from an isolationist creed, Trump’s vision is one that is essentially about projecting and embodying American strength abroad. That’s in direct contrast with the sort of weakness that led to the outbreak of wars in the Middle East and Ukraine in the four years Biden was warming Trump’s seat in the Oval Office.

That’s why Trump joined Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear program last June and inflicted the sort of damage that makes it unlikely that they will be able to use it to achieve their dream of regional hegemony.

And it’s also why Trump ought not to fall into the trap of negotiations with Iran just at the moment when a decisive push against them, both via sanctions and strategic strikes, might enable the Iranian people to overthrow the regime that has murdered and oppressed them for the last 47 years.

It’s not just that everyone knows that no deal with Iran could be verified by independent monitors of either its media or that the regime could be trusted to keep. They’ve cheated on the nuclear pact they made with Obama and virtually every other deal the regime has signed since the Islamist movement toppled the Shah of Iran in 1979.

Making Trump a lame duck

So, if Trump backs down on anything less than a change in the fundamental character of the Iranian regime and its transformation into a reasonable neighbor rather than the home base for terrorism, the damage he’ll be doing to himself will be as great as it is to the Iranian people’s hopes for a governmental alternative.

Few presidents have more at stake in maintaining their reputations than those who can’t be trifled with or bested in a negotiation. Surrendering to Iran will inevitably lead to surrendering to Hamas in Gaza. It would also end any hope of concluding Russia’s war with Ukraine on terms the West can live with or deterring global power grabs by an empowered China. It would also impair his ability to act for the rest of his term in office, which is still three full years.

We can’t know what the ultimate outcome of a U.S. or a joint U.S.-Israel attack on Iran looks like or what all the consequences of such a policy would be. But we do know that failing to follow through on his threats would make Trump a lame duck on foreign policy and pin on him the responsibility for future massacres of Iranians by their Islamist tyrants. That’s a price the president simply cannot afford.