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Via The Cradle

The Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria was severely damaged by an Israeli airstrike early on Friday, forcing the road to close and leaving those fleeing to cross on foot. 

Videos circulating on social media show the aftermath of the strike and the destruction it caused. Displaced Lebanese and Syrians can be seen trekking by foot across the border. 

Masnaa is the primary border crossing between Lebanon and Syria.

The Israeli army claimed in a statement that it struck a 3.5-kilometer underground tunnel crossing from Lebanon into Syria. It says it is working to stifle the flow of weapons from Iran via Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon. 

Israel’s air force bombed “an underground tunnel that crosses the territory of Lebanon into the territory of Syria, about 3.5 kilometers long, and which is used by Hezbollah to transfer weapons and store them in an underground route,” the Israeli army said in a statement on 4 October. 

The statement also announced the assassination of Mohammad Jaafar Qasir, who it said was the head of Hezbollah’s Unit 4400 that allegedly operated the targeted tunnel.

It added that it “will continue to attack and destroy any infrastructure for smuggling weapons.”

Since late last month, Israel has been waging a massive and deadly aerial campaign across Lebanon, including its capital, Beirut. At least one million have been displaced and around 2,000 killed since September 20, with the death toll on a continuously rapid rise.

Dozens of loud explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburb just past midnight on Thursday as Israel unleashed another round of massive and destructive airstrikes. Several neighborhoods were reported destroyed as a result of the attacks.

Israeli 🇮🇱 airstrike has cut a main highway linking Lebanon 🇱🇧 with Syria 🇸🇾, first time this major border crossing has been cut off since the beginning of the war, footage by @JamilBassil

Friday’s airstrike led to the closure of a road near the Masnaa Border Crossing, from… pic.twitter.com/iT45ZynCS9

— Saad Abedine (@SaadAbedine) October 4, 2024

Hebrew and western media cited Israeli sources as saying that Hashem Safieddine was the target of the main attack on the suburb. 

Safieddine is the cousin and likely successor to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated on September 27 when Israel dropped over 80 bunker buster bombs and leveled around 10 buildings in Beirut’s southern suburb. 

The last 24 hours have seen Hezbollah launch massive missile strikes on Israel’s major northern port city of Haifa. The rockets have rained down on Haifa since Sunday, and launches have continued into Monday.

Widely circulating social media videos have confirmed a series of direct ground strikes. BBC has said in a Monday update that at least five rockets have been recently launched, inuring eight people and causing damage in Haifa. Dozens more have been sent.

Israel’s military has admitted that its much-touted air defenses have been failing in the north, and says it is investigating as a result. 

Hezbollah has since said it is targeting military bases near Haifa, but local reports say a restaurant was among the places to be directly struck, resulting in significant damage.

Jerusalem Post writes that “a restaurant in Haifa had reportedly suffered a direct hit as approximately 20 rockets were identified crossing from Lebanese territory.”

“Among those evacuated for medical treatment, a 13-year-old was reportedly lightly wounded, while two others were moderately wounded from broken glass,” the report details. “Three people sustained light injuries from broken glass, two were lightly injured while heading to a protected area, and one person was treated for anxiety.”

And separately another local media report cites damage in the middle of the city: “Footage captured in Haifa, however, appeared to show heavy damage at a traffic circle struck by a rocket, while other videos showed smoke rising above apartments during the barrage.”

Watch: most significant strikes on Haifa since war’s start…

⚡️Hezbollah conducts strikes in Israeli city of Haifa pic.twitter.com/u4o7kemWvg

— RT (@RT_com) October 6, 2024

On Sunday alone a total of some 120 rockets were fired by Hezbollah into northern Israel. By all accounts these projectiles have been reaching further and further into Israel, since the start of the IDF bombing campaign over southern Beirut.

Injuries have also been reported from the town of Tiberias. It has become clear that thus far Israel’s ground offensive in south Lebanon and bombing of Beirut has not stopped Hezbollah rockets from reaching deep into the north.

Among Israel’s chief goals for the Lebanon offensive is to push Hezbollah back dozens of kilometers, to create a buffer zone which will allow Israeli residents of the north to return to their homes.

Al Arabiya confirmed footage which captured the Hezbollah hit on a Haifa restaurant…

مقاطع فيديو تظهر إصابة مباشرة لأحد المطاعم في #حيفا بعد الصواريخ التي أطلقها حزب الله من جنوب #لبنان#قناة_العربية pic.twitter.com/WuBlmBIbcf

— العربية (@AlArabiya) October 7, 2024

Israel’s aerial bombardment of Beirut has remained steady, with jets on Sunday night targeting buildings said to belong to Hezbollah’s intelligence division in Beirut, or places deemed command centers, according to Israeli statements.

Apparent weapons depot in the middle of the Lebanese capital blown up:

BREAKING:

HUGE new explosion as Israeli airstrikes hit another Hezbollah weapons depot in Beirut.

Why would you store these rockets and explosives among civilian homes in your capital city?

Many Lebanese people living in Beirut must be furious with Hezbollah. pic.twitter.com/pvfzqEwRc0

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 6, 2024

Images showed an a strike on an apparent Hezbollah weapons depot, releasing huge and sustained fireballs and secondary explosions. The IDF on Monday warned that the Israeli Navy will soon begin to operate against Hezbollah from the sea.

Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times,

Thousands turned out to the Bayfront Convention Center on Sept. 29 to hear former President Donald Trump speak. Hundreds more gathered outside the convention center to watch Trump’s speech on a jumbo display, while nearby stands were set up to register voters, hawk mail-in ballots, and hand out Trump-Vance yard signs and bumper stickers.

There’s a reason for that: Erie County, which hosts the city of Erie, is a strong indicator of who will win Pennsylvania. Since 1980, with the exception of 1988, the county has backed the winner of statewide presidential races.

While it doesn’t rise to the level of a national bellwether—it’s often backed candidates who went on to lose the general election—since 2008, it’s ultimately backed the candidate who won Pennsylvania.

That makes it a crucial county in 2024, when the winner of Pennsylvania is highly expected by pundits to win the entire election.

As recently as 2008 and 2012, the Democratic Party was king in the county: In his election and reelection bid, President Barack Obama won the county by 20 points and 16.9 points respectively. But in 2016, Trump shifted the county by 18.5 points in Republicans’ favor, and won the county by 1.6 percent.

In 2020, reflecting the razor-thin margins of the election in the state and nationwide, President Joe Biden carried the county by just 1 percent, or 1,417 votes.

The changing politics can be attributed in part to the area’s cultural and demographic background.

A few hours’ drive north of Pittsburgh, Erie County sits at the northwestern end of Pennsylvania, bordering the Great Lake of the same name, upstate New York, and Ohio.

The city of Erie, home to large immigrant and university student populations, is Pennsylvania’s fifth most populous, lying at the northern edge of the county. Beyond that, the area has several suburban areas and developments. The southern half of the county is largely rural, home to several scattered, small townships.

The county’s Rust Belt origins are on full display in Erie, with defunct factories and industrial centers dotting the city and its environs.

An Oct. 2 photo of one of the many former industrial centers in Erie County that have long been shuttered. Joseph Lord/The Epoch Times

Demographics

In many ways, the county, with its mix of urban, suburban, and rural voters, reflects larger voter distributions in Pennsylvania.

“I try to explain it this way: if you take all of Pennsylvania … and you shrink it down, it’s Erie, because we’ve got large industry, we’ve got tool and die … the small mom and pop places. The southern part of the county is all rural, strictly agriculture. You’ve got diversity,” Tom Eddy, chairman of the Erie County GOP, told The Epoch Times.

According to the Census Bureau, the county is home to around 271,000 people.

Around 83 percent of them are white. At an average household income of around $60,663, many voters in the area fall squarely into the white working class, a key electorate for both parties.

This demographic has trended toward Republicans since Trump entered politics. In 2008, about 55 percent of them backed Obama. In 2016, Trump’s first presidential campaign, 62 percent of the white working class voted for him. In 2020, their support dipped to 59 percent.

For Democrats, the goal is to largely hold onto their minority share of the demographic, while expanding among suburban, white collar, and Erie city voters—all demographics more favorable to the party in recent years.

Erie County Democratic Party Chairman Sam Talarico—a former schoolteacher who’s been involved in Democratic politics since 2000—acknowledged that in Erie and across the country, Democrats are increasingly struggling with the white working class.

On the other hand, he noted that suburban areas—such as Fairview Township and Harborcreek, which border the city center to the east and west—are shifting in Democrats’ favor.

“Fairview is our most affluent community, and it used to be a Republican stronghold. It’s about 50/50, right now, possibly a little more blue, and it’s turning bluer,” Talarico said.

Democrats are also striving to keep their substantial lead in the city itself, a lead aided by the city’s vast student and immigrant population—two demographics that also favor the Democratic Party.

Trump and the Republicans, meanwhile, are seeking to expand their lead among the white working class—which makes up a substantial swath of the Pennsylvania electorate—and to win over independents.

Signs along a major roadway show support for former President Donald Trump, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), and Senate contender Dave McCormick in Erie County, Pa., on Sept. 30. Joseph Lord/The Epoch Times

Eddy noted that Democrats do maintain a slight advantage in voter registration in the county, with about 10,000 more registered Democrats than registered Republicans. But the most crucial bloc for both parties is the county’s 35,000 independents.

“I think the big swing is going to be the independent voter,” Eddy said. “They’re the ones that make the difference.”

Speaking about the closing gap between registered Republicans and Democrats in recent years, Talarico said, “I’m not going to say it isn’t concerning. It is.”

But like Eddy, Talarico said the real “X factor” will be the independents.

And many of those independents, he noted, are young people—a demographic that tends to favor Democrats, particularly young women.

For Republicans and Democrats on the ground, the stakes are clear: As goes Erie, so goes Pennsylvania; and as goes Pennsylvania, so goes the election.

Republican Enthusiasm

With just about a month left until the election, Erie County appears more politically active than ever: Bumper stickers, billboards, and yard signs expressing support for one candidate or the other litter the area, with a noticeably stronger showing of “Trump/Vance” signs.

There are strong indicators of Republican enthusiasm.

At GOP headquarters in Erie—a small office space in a strip mall just outside the city center—county residents stopped by in droves.

Republicans’ base of operations in Erie County, Pa., on Oct. 1. Joseph Lord/The Epoch Times

Almost every 10 minutes, a new person came into the office requesting voter registration forms, mail-in ballots, or apparel to show their support for Trump. Many offered $20 donations in exchange for a dwindling supply of Trump shirts. Several purchased apparel for their children.

The office is filling yellow file envelopes with voter registrations and mail-in ballots almost every day—including many who have never voted before. Often, the Republicans run out of apparel to offer voters due to the high demand.

“The energy level is extremely high. That’s what I’ve noticed more than I’ve noticed in any of the other elections,” Eddy said.

The Erie County Democratic headquarters is a few miles away in downtown Erie, comprising a large office space a few dozen blocks from the city center.

Compared to Republican headquarters, the energy level is noticeably muted and less chaotic. Volunteers could be seen talking, watching television, and taking calls in the office’s large backroom area. A handful of other volunteers and voters circled through to collect party apparel, yard signs, or bumper stickers.

While it’s harder to access the building by vehicle, with only a limited number of meter-based parking spots outside, the subdued atmosphere reflects the uncertain position Democrats find themselves in.

Democrats’ headquarters in Erie, Pa., on Oct. 2, 2024. Joseph Lord/The Epoch Times

While Talarico noted that “on paper” his party’s prospects look bleak, Talarico told The Epoch Times that he still sees reason for optimism.

“The most compelling thing I’ve seen is enthusiasm,” he said.

Before Biden’s departure, Democrats had just 60 or so volunteers; since Harris took over the ticket, that number has jumped to 320. Around 250 people attended a vice presidential debate watch party hosted by the county party.

Talarico also noted that Democrats have seen vast success in the county in recent nonpresidential elections.

That’s true. In 2022, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) handily defeated Republican Mehmet Oz in Erie County, winning 53 percent of the vote to Oz’s 44 percent. Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro enjoyed greater success the same year, defeating his Republican opponent by a landslide 22-point margin in Erie County.

Thus, Talarico said, Democrats’ position might not be “as dire as it looks on paper.”

‘Trump Factories’

It’s not just the Erie County Republican Party that’s hard at work trying to flip the county back to Trump’s camp.

Leo Williard, a small business owner, has set up what he calls “Trump factories” in two auto dealerships owned by his friend and located just outside downtown Erie.

While still managing his own business, Williard told The Epoch Times that he spends hours every week talking to and converting Democratic voters to Trump’s side.

Williard said he was inspired to do so by the city of Erie’s Democratic leanings: While the rural and suburban areas are more evenly divided, the city itself votes overwhelmingly for Democrats.

Many of those who come into the dealership are from the city, he said.

“And we started talking to those people, and I have a table set up in the corner of his office up there that I call the ‘Trump corner.’ I call this whole process the ‘Trump factory,’” Williard said, adding that he was bringing as many as five to 15 Democrats a day over to Trump’s side.

“You can’t believe the people we are turning from Democrat to Trump.”

For many, financial concerns—particularly inflation—are the most pressing issue, Williard said, agreeing that inflation could be described as “the No. 1 issue” in the county right now. The modest income of many residents makes the hit harder than it might be in more affluent areas, Williard said.

Williard said that Democrats’ decision to nominate Vice President Kamala Harris did energize the Democratic base in the city, but he is confident.

“I still think that Erie County, based on the work I see being done and the enthusiasm I see, will go red. I think it will turn the state red,” Williard said.

Republicans have seen strong signs for optimism—but recent Democratic victories in the county still undercut any sort of certainty.

Authored by Thaddeus McCotter via American Greatness,

As many a Gen Xer will do these days, I dusted off an old compact disc: REM’s album Murmur, which was released in 1983. As I listened to the first track, “Radio Free Europe,” I looked at the CD’s cover. It was an eerie photo of thick vegetation.

As I later learned, when the REM album was released, this plant was well on its way to enveloping large swaths of the southeastern United States, including Georgia (which was REM’s original base). The name of the all-consuming plant? Kudzu (Pueraria montana).

Immediately, I thought of the left’s “Green Economy.” Bear with me.

Per a 2019 article in The Nature Conservancy entitled “Kudzu: The Invasive Vine that Ate the South”: “Kudzu looks innocent enough yet the invasive plant easily overtakes trees, abandoned homes and telephone poles.”

Kudzu is an invasive species. “Kudzu—or kuzu (クズ) – is native to Japan and southeast China. It was first introduced to the United States during the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876 where it was touted as a great ornamental plant for its sweet-smelling blooms and sturdy vines.”

The invasive plant’s other ominous nickname is “mile-a-minute,” for its spread of up to “one foot per day.” This makes Kudzu’s spread as lightning quick as it is lethal to indigenous vegetation:

“[Kudzu] outcompetes everything from native grasses to fully mature trees… This loss of native plants harms other plants, insects and animals that adapted alongside them, leading to cascading effects throughout an ecosystem. Over time, these effects of habitat loss can lead to species extinctions and a loss of overall biodiversity.”

So, are we to blame posh 19th-century Americans’ vanity for the introduction of and devastation by Kudzu? The introduction, perhaps. But, like sundry other 21st-century problems, we can point to the 20th Century’s titans of science and the federal government for the vast extent of the devastation. As the Nature Conservancy concedes:

“From the 1930s through the 1950s, the Soil Conservation Service promoted it as a great tool for soil erosion control and was planted in abundance throughout the south. Little did we know that kudzu is quite a killer, overtaking and growing over anything in its path.” [Italics mine.]

Note the article’s use of “we,” to mute the culpability of the government and scientific community at the time. Some things never change, right Dr. Fauci? Nor does the present scientific community’s effort to without the slightest trace of humility or irony push their remunerative climate change narrative—and the more apocalyptic the narrative the better:

“Kudzu thrives in areas with mild winters and hot summers. Climate change may be making it easier for creeping vine to spread, as winters in many areas of the U.S. become milder. Climate change also can lead to more regional drought, an opportunity for this versatile killer.” [Italics mine.]

The weasel words “may” and “can” have been italicized, rather than, say, the words “does” or “will.” Why? It is an attempt to insulate subsequent speculative statements from having to be demonstrably factual—you know, like real science expects (or used to, anyway). This is the tell in apocalyptic climate change rhetoric.

Here is an easy way to remember the climate change cult’s rhetorical conceit: “If I could be any plant in the forest, I would be Kudzu.” Yet, there are no “ifs,” “ands,” nor “buts” about it. You cannot be any plant in the forest; thus, you are not now and can never be a Kudzu. (Don’t shoot the messenger.) Still, such is advice for those who have not been indoctrinated to blindly “trust the science” and the expertise of the governing elite.

Is there any hope of eradicating Kudzu? It is possible, though the size of the “patch” is determinative of how best to do so. “Newer, smaller patches can be controlled with persistent weeding,” as well as through persistent mowing and grazing (by cattle and goats, not people)” will weaken and eventually control the plant.” Bigger patches require cutting the invasive vine and treating it with herbicides. Oh, and here is the most comprehensive remedy 21st-century science provides: “The best way to deal with kudzu or other invasive plants is to prevent them from spreading.”

You don’t say?

On the subject of things best not to spread, ponder the latest collusion between the environmental and political science communities: the Democrats’ Kudzu Economy (a.k.a., the “Green economy”).

Their Kudzu economy perversely denigrates increasing prosperity and promotes scarcity in the name of collective virtue. Reducing energy and product production, spurring inflation, and curtailing employment opportunities and the American Dream, itself, the Democrats’ Kudzu economy seeks to insulate its proven failures behind a veneer of collective “purpose.” Trillion-dollar spending bills combined with executive and administrative diktats are designed to curtail and, in many instances, eliminate consumer choices and smother the entrepreneurial spirit and productive capacity of the American people. Further, Democrats and their cohorts in radical climate change organizations seek to have an omnipotent federal government, as well as state and local governments, substitute their arbitrary and capricious decisions and preferences for those of the sovereign people it purports to—and is supposed to—serve.

Rarely right but never in doubt, this elitist gaggle of climate alarmists, leftist politicians, collusion media, anti-competitive corporatists, and sundry know-it-all billionaires bent upon introducing and spreading within the most prosperous economy in human history their own version of an invasive socialist ideology that will smother and destroy everything in its path.

Imbued with neo-pagan earth worship, including dire prophecies of an apocalypse if its dictates are not obeyed, at its invasive root the Democrats’ Kudzu economy is simply more hoary socialism in earth shoes: another duplicitous attempt to impose a demonstrably failed, inhumane ideology upon an unfortunate populace.

Unlike their 20th-century predecessors in the Soil Conservation Service who acted and erred with inaccurate information but with the best of intentions to improve the lives of Americans, the proponents of the Democrats’ Kudzu economy should know better; however, they have allowed ideology and greed to desensitize them to the consequences of their actions upon their fellow citizens. For the rest of us, the Kudzu economy may be “The End of the World As We Know It,” but its elitist proponents feel fine.

Well, for now, anyway. Kudzu advance is not limited to the largely “red,” southeastern states. It has been increasingly found in “blue” northern climes, including the states of Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon, Illinois, and Delaware. Should a landscaping crew happen upon the invasive vine on a tony estate on Martha’s Vineyard or any of the other retreats of the insulated elites, perhaps the Democrats will learn a painful lesson that blind faith in fallible science has unforeseen and unfortunate consequences. Heck, maybe that could then spur a further self-examination of their radical ideology and, thus, a reconsideration of their zealous promotion of their Kudzu economy.

Is this too much to expect? Probably. But where there is life, there is hope; and, however deep the darkness enveloping it, a thin reed of truth will out to the light.