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Sept. 16, 2024 - Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano
24:59
LtCOL. Karen Kwiatkowski : War, Propaganda, and Free Speech
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Hi, everyone.
Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom.
Today is Tuesday, September 17, 2024.
Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski joins us now.
Karen, I want to talk to you about war, propaganda, and free speech, something about which you wrote very eloquently this morning at JudgeKnapp.com and elsewhere.
But before we do, there is breaking news in Ukraine and there's breaking news in Israel, and I'd like to address both with you.
Even though we expected President Biden and British Prime Minister Starmer on Friday to announce that they would authorize the use of their long-range weapon systems, meaning American-British technicians, actually they're firing them, to reach deep into Russia, apparently from and after a very stern but calm and clear statement by Russian President Putin.
There was no such agreement and no such announcement, notwithstanding all the intimations in the last week from Secretary of State Blinken in Kyiv.
Did Joe Biden back down to Vladimir Putin?
Well, that's assuming there's a Joe Biden that...
That is around to back down or that is cognizant.
But yeah, the team that runs this country, I think, may well have realized or listened to the voices of caution, not least of which are those in Europe who understand the possible ramifications of basically engaging in direct long-distance missile warfare with Russia.
I mean, the games that they're playing have been dangerous for a long time.
But maybe they have come to their senses a bit, but it might be premature to say that.
I mean, President Putin's statement was very clear that he would regard this as the West and Great Britain and the United States waging war on Russia and would respond accordingly.
Our friend and colleague Scott Ritter says that means hypersonic missiles or even nuclear weapons on the American mainland.
Do you read Putin's statement the same way?
That's what he's saying.
You know, it's very difficult for us as Americans to think about the way we treat the rest of the world.
It's very difficult for us to accept that they could, in fact, And so it's almost inconceivable.
But in fact, I think the rest of the world is not American.
They think a little more seriously about these things.
And so, yeah, I would take him at his word.
But at the same time, I think it's very difficult for Americans.
We are spoiled in a way.
We have gotten away with so much.
That we don't believe anything bad will happen to us as a result of our bad decisions.
You know what I worry about, Karen?
That Ukraine is about to collapse.
It's the middle of October.
There's two weeks to go to Election Day.
Joe Biden can't let it collapse on his watch.
And he might do something reckless, rash, or irreversible.
And again, maybe it wouldn't be Biden.
Maybe it would be Blinken, Austin, and Sullivan.
Yeah.
Well, that's been the concern for some time now.
I mean, we don't even know who is actually making the decisions in the country on our foreign policy.
We're engaged in a war that Congress is not involved in other than funding it.
They've never been asked anything to, you know, this is not a constitutional conduct of a battle with Russia or on behalf of Ukraine.
None of this was approved legislatively.
It's all executive.
It's all executive decision-making.
And who is the executive?
Well, it's Biden, but he's not really there.
So who is it?
Harris, I'm not sure they've let her in on much, even though, in theory, they expect her to be their next president.
I'm not sure how aware she is.
So you have to look at the Bidens.
The way the funding works, and it's now about $250 billion with a B. It's at the president's discretion.
So he can send a few billion in cash.
He can send a few billion in humanitarian aid.
Or he can send tens of billions in military hardware and munition.
Solely, as you point out, Karen, his discretion.
Now, in the case of his discretion, we don't know who actually is exercising the discretion.
But Scott Ritter is of the view.
That the Defense Department took Putin's threat seriously.
And the Secretary of Defense and his senior people went to the White House and said, dial Tony back, meaning the Secretary of State, because we're not ready for this.
And we're the ones he's going to hit.
No, that makes a lot of sense because of all the departments, obviously the Defense Department is most aware of the Russian capabilities.
In fact, we're trying to match them and exceed them.
This is a constant condition of the Pentagon to compete with our nuclear enemies.
So their knowledge of the situation is more solid than certainly the people in the National Security Council and the people like Blinken.
So that's good.
I mean, they may have saved this country in that advice.
Because, you know, we're not prepared.
I don't know if you remember maybe last year what it was.
I don't know when it was.
New York City put out some advice on how to prepare for a nuclear attack.
It was outrageous.
Who would accept the city's advice?
But no, I don't remember this.
Yeah, they published a thing like about how to take cover and not breathe.
Not go out and breathe fumes or whatever.
I mean, it was ludicrous.
It was insane if none of it would have made any difference.
And it's not clear.
I forget why they did it, but it got tweeted out and was in the media for a short time.
But yeah, notwithstanding New York City's warning of some years ago, we're not prepared for anything like that in this country.
Not in the least bit.
Here's somebody who wants to make it worse.
You'll know who this is as soon as you see him and hear him.
Chris, cut number six.
I strongly support Ukrainian accession to the EU if that's what they want.
And I should have said in the context of Ukrainian backfilling in Europe, they must join NATO as fast as possible.
No, no.
I would say...
We should just get on with it.
That's mine.
He is the utensil with which the United States caused the conflict when he flew to Kiev and told then-president, validly elected president, Zelensky, tear up this agreement.
We got your back.
You'll win the war.
It'll be over with before you know it.
He is the utensil.
I don't know if you noticed who was next to him.
I didn't notice it until Chris pointed it out.
Mike Pompeo.
Oh, no.
Really?
Yeah.
So here you have Boris Johnson doubling down, notwithstanding.
This is after Vladimir Putin's threat.
That Ukraine will join EU and join NATO.
I think he's delusional, Karen.
Yeah.
No, there's a serious problem that these people are rising to the top of various countries' leadership and they're given a platform.
They're idiots.
I mean, they are beyond idiots because, you know, you can be an idiot and not hurt anybody.
These guys are idiots and they're trying to destroy their own countries.
The lives of millions of people, not to mention economies.
And certainly, don't forget what we've done to Ukraine.
I mean, we have destroyed that country.
This issue of land for peace, forget about it.
There's no Ukraine left.
Even a smaller Ukraine, it's trashed.
I mean, we put cluster bombs all over the place.
We've destroyed all the infrastructure.
The people that were smart got out of Ukraine.
We've destroyed that country.
What do they have to offer NATO?
You know, they want to have a NATO practice field.
They would be an enormous, Alistair Crook argues, they would be an enormous drain on NATO.
NATO would never vote to admit them now in the condition that they're in.
Moving to Israel, here's the latest report from a Lebanese television reporter.
On the hacking into the Hezbollah pager system and the simultaneous explosion of about 2,500 pagers on civilians and on Hezbollah fighters.
Cut number 16. The communication device that is being used by the Lebanese armed group has been penetrated, hacked.
And a number, hundreds of Hezbollah members of Hezbollah have been wounded after those devices, which are known as pagers.
That's the way that they are calling them exploded.
So this is a major security breach.
Hezbollah's communications device.
It has been compromised.
You can go online.
We can't run this, but you can go online and see from security footage in shops, people shopping, and then all of a sudden the explosion and five people are there and two are down and three are still standing because the two happen to have these pagers with them.
The Mossad or IDF has not claimed credit for it, but it's hard to believe that it could be anybody else.
Among the eight dead, two babies.
So I don't know, does this mean escalation in the Israeli Lebanon war?
I guess it does.
I think, I mean, what I've seen so far is it's a preparation of the battlefield kind of action to, you know, take out the communications that the people have, that the Hezbollah fighters would have in order to put them off balance and then continue with other waves of attack.
And I'm sure they will do that.
But yeah, it looks like they're escalating.
And why wouldn't they?
I mean, why wouldn't Israel escalate?
What choice do they really have?
I mean, there are people, if you can say there's a left and a right or any type of political spectrum, for the most part, it is in agreement that they need to kill all their enemies.
They're in agreement about that.
And how they do it is a matter of some debate, but not much.
Killing men, women, and children, the children are just future terrorists.
So that isn't an issue that restrains, I don't think, certainly not the government of Israel, and it doesn't restrain the population.
I think it's almost impossible for Americans to really understand.
I think maybe hatred, you know, the way that they feel about their enemies is its passion, its evil passion.
Does this kind of an attack on civilians animate the Houthis, animate Iran, and of course animate Hezbollah, which was the target?
Oh, yeah.
I mean, you know, and the other thing is they, Hezbollah and Iranians and the Houthis, those who live in the region, expect this kind of behavior out of Israel.
So imagine that it wasn't Israel.
It wouldn't matter.
Israel will get the credit for this.
I'm sure it was Israel.
Even if it wasn't, the belief that Israel would and could do this and will do worse things than this is shared by Israel's enemies.
So if it's into the narrative of war, yeah, so the war doesn't stop.
And Israel, it's a small country.
Yeah, sure, we've given them billions and, well, a trillion in 40 years, but we've given them a lot.
We support them a lot.
We give them top cover at the UN, but it's a small country and it's surrounded by many, many people.
Many, many nations who have capabilities that historically they haven't worked together.
And what we're seeing now with the way they've behaved in Gaza and what they're doing in Lebanon and in Syria for no reason.
I mean, honestly, Syria has been getting lobbed for years, but it's bringing together the enemies of Israel.
And that's something different.
That's something that's extremely powerful.
The Israeli government is not being wise.
They do not want peace, and they may very well risk their country being finished.
Does Lebanon, does Syria, does the Golan Heights, does the West Bank, does East Jerusalem have anything to do with October 7th?
Well, I mean...
I mean, we had a big plan and we needed a big Pearl Harbor event.
We got one.
And then we used that 9-11 event to do a number of things that had been previously planned, that had been desired and shot down, not least of which was the Patriot Act.
You know, they tried to get a Patriot Act kind of legislation passed in the Congress for the whole decade of the 90s.
Yes.
And it was pushed back every time.
It was debated on constitutional terms and grounds, and they said, no, we're not going to do that.
And then within days of 9-11, they repackaged this legislation that they had put together that they wanted, and they got it.
And so Israel certainly uses October 7th.
Now, how culpable is the Israeli military, the Israeli government in what happened on October 7th?
Well, you know, I think there's a I think the Israelis themselves.
The Israelis are going to go after and find who allowed October 7th to happen.
I think there's no doubt in my mind.
In fact, they will be more effective because they're small and they're passionate and patriotic.
They will be more effective in finding out who did it than we ever will be on 9-11.
Here's the new Iranian president.
He had a long press conference and he answered a lot of very direct questions.
But here he is talking about genocide.
Cut number 10. We, a Muslim state, can impose on Israel that it can't commit genocide and kill children by our unity.
If we are united, Israel would not dare do so.
He, of course, is talking about the Muslim states in the area.
Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt, and Iran.
Obviously, if they unite, they are massively more powerful than Israel if they unite.
I don't know where this is going to go, Karen, but it only seems to be getting worse and worse and worse.
It's almost too early to assess how many people were injured and how many were killed by the explosion of these pagers.
When's the last time you used a pager?
Maybe 1992, because they didn't want the Mossad to be able to hack into mobile devices, so they went to pagers.
Mossad caused the batteries in the pages, I assume that's the way it worked, according to Matt Ho, to explode.
Switching gears, if we could, to something that you have been writing about very eloquently lately.
Not that you're never not eloquent, but you've been writing about this lately.
And it has to do with the freedom of speech.
And last night on Rachel Maddow, Hillary Clinton, reprehensible, but you'll hear it and see her.
Here's what she said about the freedom of speech.
Number 17. I think it's important to indict the Russians, just as Mueller indicted a lot of Russians who were engaged in politics.
But I also think there are Americans who are engaged in this kind of propaganda.
And whether they should be civilly or even in some cases criminally charged is something that would be a better deterrence because the Russians are unlikely, except in a very few cases, to ever stand trial.
Yeah, I saw that.
Yeah.
Well, you know, she has a good point and I will give her some credit.
You know, she's talking about, you know, aiding the enemy, Aliens and Sedition Act type of behavior.
And those things require a congressionally determined condition of war.
We don't have that.
It's kind of interesting she'll talk about these things as if we are engaged in any legal battle, legal war, United States versus anyone.
We are not.
We have no declaration.
We have no active declaration of war that has been passed by the Congress in my lifetime, really.
I mean, World War II was the last one.
So for her to talk this way, it can be an avenue for people to begin to think about What is meant by war when we use that word?
And do we have a legal war?
Are these just executive and political wars that we've been paying for?
And many of our soldiers and airmen, Marines have been dying in.
But really, it wasn't a real war.
Here you have a graduate of Yale Law School, a former first lady, a former United States senator, a former secretary of state, a former president.
Mrs. Clinton, Constitutional Law 101, propaganda is protected free speech.
All political speech in America is protected speech.
Doesn't she know that?
Is the government so fearful?
Of what people like you and I and others on this show and the millions that watch us might say out loud that they would contemplate silencing our speech?
Yeah, and that's something that they are that frightened, okay?
They are that frightened.
And that should be a wake-up call, and it is for those who they've come after.
But it should be a wake-up call for anyone in this country who holds an opinion contrary to the prevailing narrative coming out of Washington, D.C. We have to wake up to the fact that we are seen.
We are not the enemies.
We are practicing our freedom of speech and being Americans, the country that the world used to look up to for these very freedoms that we exercise and cherish.
But we need to we need to be aware that we have enemies in this country and they've already identified us as the enemy.
So we're going to have to start thinking seriously about emasculating them and about weakening the power of the state, because the direction of state power certainly.
They will hunt down and talk to people who are voicing propaganda, however they define it.
And they will target and arrest people that are saying things that the government doesn't like.
That's what's coming.
People really need to wake up to this because it's everybody.
It's not just people on YouTube, people that you can see.
It's everyone.
It'll be like East Germany with the Stasi wall.
So-and-so gave the government a side-eye.
Well, you need to go talk to that person.
So, not acceptable.
It's not part of who we are as Americans at all.
I think the majority still will agree with that.
But we need to nip these guys in the bud.
We need to rein them in using all ways.
And one of the ways the people that aren't lawyers, that aren't One way we can do it is to keep talking.
Keep writing.
Keep talking.
Keep making memes, I guess you call them.
I love the cat memes.
Keep it up.
Do everything.
If it makes them angry, do more of it.
That is pretty much what you can do right now.
And be prepared.
These people are serious.
I can chuckle about this and say my piece.
These folks, folks like Hillary, and she speaks for a certain class of Americans, a certain political class that we live under.
She believes this.
She wouldn't say this if she wasn't serious.
She is deadly serious.
And they've already knocked RT and, look, I mean, Blinken has knocked RT and Sputnik.
Meta has taken them off.
Facebook, they're off Facebook because Blinken says they're bad.
They're saying things that we disagree with.
Well, they're doing it.
They believe in it.
They're doing it.
If they get more power, they'll do more of it.
So be prepared to combat that in every way.
Everybody has to.
We have a responsibility as Americans to fight it.
Here's the penultimate line in your essay that went up today at Judge Knapp, a quotation from my favorite president, Thomas Jefferson.
What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time?
That their people preserve the spirit of resistance.
If their rulers are not warned from time to time, that their people preserve the spirit of resistance.
Thank you for helping us to preserve the spirit of resistance, dear Karen.
By the way, an informal poll.
Everybody loves your new hairstyle.
Oh, no!
Oh, my goodness.
All the best.
Thank you.
We'll see you next week.
Thank you so much.
Okay.
Thank you, Judge.
Oh, coming up tomorrow.
I usually have this down, but let me just look at my notes.
Bear with me for a second while I find this for you.
Yes, coming up tomorrow at 11 o 'clock in the morning, Colonel Douglas McGregor at 2 in the afternoon, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson at 3 in the afternoon, Phil Giraldi at 4 in the afternoon, Aaron Maté.
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