#WTH Welcome back, DJT

America is still best. Hamas is still worst. And TikTok sucks.

Donald Trump will be inaugurated today as the 47th President of the United States, once the 45th. It’s a wonderful day for him, perhaps more poignant because in truth, he was elevated as a triumph of the American people over the American establishment. Of course, it’s a triumph for us as well — we, the beneficiaries of the incredible American democratic system.

It has struck me recently just how stunning the American experiment has been. It’s not just our Constitution, or the men and women who have won wars, or the Nobel prize winners, the Googles, the Facebooks, the AI, the dollar, the riches, the transformational society. Those are all historic achievements, plus more and more and more. But take a look at our allies, many of whom in theory share our values, our work ethic, and our backgrounds. In terms of per capita income, England is failing. Canada is faltering. New Zealand too. Only Australia is competing, and that is based on the wealth of the land and the thinness of the population.

Per the World Bank (in USD, 2023 dollars):

If you’re looking at this chart and thinking, “Dany doesn’t know how to make graphics,” that would be, a) true; and b) still true. But I’m on a flight using AI, so this is what you get. Your correct conclusion should be, I’d rather live in America. Or, per one of my favorite hard-working daily columnists, Jim Geraghty at National Review, talking about absorbing Canada into the USofA, and quoting University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe:

“The gap between the Canadian and American economies has now reached its widest point in nearly a century.” The U.S., he continues, “is on track to produce nearly 50 percent more per person than Canada will.” Canada would be the fourth-poorest state per capita in the Union, beneath Alabama.

All I can say is, Lee Greenwood knows what he’s talking about.

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As we celebrate the great that is America, please let’s pause for a moment and consider the spectacle of the Palestinian terror organization releasing three young women in exchange for 90 murderers, rapists, and terrorists. (A deal, we might add, urged on by Donald Trump’s agents.)

Does anything better epitomize the perversion of a society than the warm embraces of shattered families versus the bloody ululating of gun wielding children?

How about the starvation happening in Gaza? How about the freezing temperatures? Yeah, none of that is visible in the pictures of celebrations emerging from the terror stronghold. And then there’s this: Does Hamas terrorists celebrating on top of a Red Cross van — the Red Cross never visited a single Israeli hostage held by Hamas —not epitomize the corruption and brokenness of the United Nations and human rights system?

Here’s some detail about just a few of the 900 Palestinian prisoners Israel is releasing in order to secure hostages dead and alive, compiled by Doron Kadosh of Galei Zahal (IDF radio) on X. (Forgive the translation errors.)

1. Ibrahim Abed Elhai, commander of the cell that sent the suicide bomber to carry out the attack at the Em Moshavot Mall in Petah Tikva in 2002, in which a grandmother and her one-year-old granddaughter (Ruthi Peled and Sinai Keinan) were murdered, and about 50 other people were injured.

2. Osama Ashkar and Muhammad Naifa, terrorists responsible for two attacks during the Second Intifada in October 2002 in the town of Hermesh and Kibbutz Metzer, attacks in which 8 Israelis were murdered - including 4 children.

3. Ahmed Abu Hader, a senior Tanzim official who planned a suicide attack at Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer and sent terrorists during the Second Intifada.

4. Ahmed al-Sheibani and Hussam Abed sent the suicide bomber who exploded in the 2003 Ha'amakim Mall attack, in which 3 Israelis were murdered and 70 were injured.

5. Ahmed Aslam and Hussam Halabi, members of the Fatah terrorist cell that murdered the couple Avi and Avital Valensky in Samaria in 2002.

6. Ahmed Dehidi - one of the leaders of the Islamic Jihad in Judea and Samaria, who was convicted of the murder of Eli Biton in 2003 in the town of Gadish.

7. Mahmoud Atauna (squad commander) and Ahmed Aref Al-Assafra - the squad that murdered the late Dvir Sorek in 2019 near Migdal Oz in Gush Etzion.

8. Ahmed Ovid, a terrorist serving seven life sentences for aiding the terrorist who murdered 7 Israelis in a 2003 attack at the Hillel Cafe in Jerusalem.

9. Iyad Masalma, a Hamas terrorist who sent the terrorist who carried out the shooting attack in Karme Tzur in 2002, in which 3 Israelis were murdered: the couple Eyal and Yael Sorek, and the late reserve soldier Shalom Mordechai.

10. Ayham Sabbah, one of the terrorists who carried out the stabbing attack at the Rami Levy branch in the Shaar Binyamin industrial zone and murdered an IDF soldier.

11. Akram Hamed - Head of the Fatah cell that was responsible for a series of shooting attacks in the Binyamin area during the Second Intifada, including the murder of Assaf Hershkowitz and Idit Mizrahi in 2001.

12. Amjad Hamed, Faiz Hamed, and Abdullah Ishaq, members of the cell that carried out the 2015 shooting attack near Douma in which the late Malachi Rosenfeld was murdered.

13. Abd al-Karim Awis (one of the commanders of the Al-Aqsa Brigades) and Amjad Takatka - the terrorists who were involved in the suicide bombing at the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem in 2002, in which 6 Israelis were murdered. Awis was also responsible for additional attacks in Afula and on King George Street in Jerusalem.

14. Anwar and Mezuz Basharat, members of the cell that murdered in 2003 Masoud Alon, a 72-year-old Israeli who was missing from his home for a day and whose body was found next to his burned-out car in the Jordan Valley.

15. Isaac Arafa, the terrorist who carried out a bomb attack on the United Nations Buildings in Jerusalem in 2011, murdered a woman and a girl and injured 37 Israelis.

16. Ismail Radaida, who murdered a Greek Orthodox monk near Jerusalem in 2001.

17. Ashraf Abu Sarur, who murdered the late soldier Shahar Waqar near Rachel's Tomb in 2000.

18. Ashraf Alloui, who murdered two soldiers in a 1993 attack in Deir Balut, was released in the Shalit deal and re-arrested.

19. Basel Mahlouf and Jasser Radad, the terrorists who murdered soldier Yaron Pickholtz near Tulkarm in 2002. 21. Bahjat Ashkirat, one of the terrorists who murdered two security guards in the Kidron Valley in Jerusalem in 2003.

20. Bilal Abu Ghanem - the terrorist who carried out the attack on bus line 78 at the Hanatziv Palace in Jerusalem, in which 3 Israelis were murdered, in 2015.

21. Bashir Haruv - the terrorist who murdered Col. (res.) Sariya Yaya Ofer, the late, in his home in the village of Brosh in the Valley in 2013

22. Jihad Najjar - the terrorist who murdered Yair Har Sinai from the southern Hebron Hills in 2001.

23. Jamal Ja'ara - the terrorist who drove the suicide bomber to the attack at the Stage Club in Tel Aviv in 2005, in which 5 Israelis were murdered.

24. Ja'far Abu Hanani, a terrorist who murdered Dina Guetta in Haifa in 2001, as part of an admissions test for Hezbollah.

25. Hani Khamaisa, a terrorist who was an officer in the Palestinian Authority, who murdered the late Stanislaw Sandomierski near Ramallah in 2001, and hid his body in the trunk of his car.

26. Haitam Tat, a member of the Hamas cell that carried out two attacks in which 4 Israelis were murdered: the attack near the IDF Southern Command in which two female soldiers were murdered, and a shooting attack near Hebron in which two Israelis were murdered.

27. Wael al-Araj, one of the terrorists who murdered Asher Palmer and his one-year-old son, Jonathan, in a 2011 stone-throwing attack in Kiryat Arba.

28. Khaled Kutina, who carried out the car bombing attack at the French Hill intersection in Jerusalem in 2015, in which the late Shalom Yohai Sharki (son of Rabbi Uri Sharki and brother of journalist Yair Sharki) was murdered.

Or this guy…

Don’t forget Arafat Irfaiya, above. He raped and decapitated a Jewish girl. This was Ori Ansbacher, his victim. He will be going home to a society that celebrates him.

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I know there’s a lot here. But one final word about TikTok. The law shutting down the mouthpiece of the Chinese Community Party hit on January 19. TikTok took down its site, and reinstated it some hours later. Here was the first message the site displayed to US users:

Some hours later, here was the next one:

What does this tell you about the incoming president? What does it tell you that the CEO of TikTok is in the special guest section of the inaugural audience, invited by Donald Trump? Don’t remember what TikTok does? Take a stroll through the piece we did a couple of years ago on the incredible hold the Chinese Community Party has on our country, and, apparently, our leaders.