NewsNation Chief Washington Anchor and On Balance host Leland Vittert was a foreign correspondent for four years in Jerusalem. He gives you an early look at tonight’s 7 p.m. ET show. Subscribe to War Notes here.

Biden Now Negotiating for Hamas 

Worse than negotiating against itself, the United States is now negotiating against Israel on behalf of Hamas. There is no other way to read Barak Ravid’s tweet that the U.S. CIA director continues to throw more and more at Hamas in the HOPES of a deal, any deal, to placate the American political Left. 

Ground truth: Hamas knows time is on its side. Let’s look at the cycle:

• Hamas continues to reject cease-fire deals that would help Palestinian civilians.
• Israel continues trying to free its hostages.
• Hamas keeps using Palestinian civilians as human shields.
• World opinion continues to turn against Israel.
• America puts more pressure on Israel rather than Hamas.

Bottom line: At this point, why WOULD Hamas make a deal? 

View from America: Ravid quotes Secretary of State Antony Blinken: “So much of the understandable outrage and anger is directed at Israel for the plight of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, but some of that might also need to be directed at Hamas. It is astounding to me that the world is almost deafeningly silent when it comes to Hamas. “

Wait what? “But some of that,” he said.

• How about all of it? 
  • Hamas routinely tortures and kills its own people.
  • Vows to destroy the state of Israel and kill Jews worldwide.
  • Steals aid. 
  • Still holds hostages and now tacitly admits to killing many of its Israeli captives.
  • Systematically rapes and tortures.
  • Uses the people it professes to fight for as human shields.
• And the U.S. secretary of state only believes Hamas deserves some “outrage and anger.”

With “friends” like Bliken, who needs enemies? 

Can you imagine being one of the hostages’ families meeting with Kamala Harris today, a woman who speaks often about a cease-fire and rarely, if ever, about your loved ones? 

Why did Team Biden turn? Turns out the leader of Vanderbilt’s pro-Hamas rally is quite close to the administration. 

Where it’s going: Steve Guest offers the side-by-side of what’s happening in Dearborn, Michigan, where “Death to America” chants are no longer out of place. 

• Thought bubble: In America, people have the right to chant, “Death to America” – what if someone in the audience started chanting, “Death to Muhammad”? 
• Would they be protected in Dearborn as well? 

We’re Not That Divided — Why Isn’t Anybody Talking to These People?

Two of Washington’s best people, not to mention best reporters, Jim VandeHei (@JimVandeHei) and Mike Allen (@mikeallen), just wrote “Behind the Curtain: America’s reality distortion machine” in Axios.

• In the article, they write, “Deep divisions exist on some topics. But on almost every topic of monthly outrage, it’s a fringe view—or example—amplified by the loudest voices on social media and politicians driving it.”

It’s worth a read. They note that 90% of Americans say free speech is extremely or very important! 

• “Hell, almost 80% think the right to own a gun is important to protect,” they write.

YET no politician is talking to these normal, undivided Americans.

• As we noted last week, on a variety of positions (like crime, welfare and gay marriage), Bill Clinton in 1996 would be labeled a right-wing nut today. 
• Yet today, the closest to a Clinton Democrat is Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., with the truly radical position that squatters deserved to be thrown out. 

Watch tonight: We try to speak to you reasonable, undivided folks every night! 

Sex in Libraries and Street Takeovers

Depending on how you slice the statistics and what statistics get reported to the FBI, Democrats can rightly claim “crime is down,” although in places like D.C., it’s up double digits. 

Perception, not statistics, is reality. 

Consider this New York Post headline: “Fed up librarians struggle to contain rampant sex, drug use and violence at branches across the country.”

Or this video of the latest American intersection turned demolition derby.

Bottom line: People don’t feel safe anymore — there are no rules. They see it. They feel it. No amount of statistics will help. 

The real victims: Heather Mac Donald delivers a devastating indictment of who our lawless society hurts the most.

• “Blacks between the ages of 10 and 24 died of homicide at nearly 25 times the rate of whites in that age cohort. The shooters are overwhelmingly not the police and not whites, but other Blacks.”

Missing Moms Police Problems

Police in Oklahoma, unable to find two moms who disappeared into America’s most desolate terrain, have two words for the worried public: “Trust us.” 

• Which is hard to do considering the homicide clearance (solving) rate in Texas County, Oklahoma, is a dismal 33% when measured from 2018 to 2022.  

Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley disappeared more than a week ago driving 17 miles from Kansas to northern Oklahoma to pick up one of the women’s children. They never made it. Police found their car partially hidden off the highway.

• Since then, they have told the media to pound sand and family members of the women not to talk.
  • Yet they haven’t found the women.
  • They have offered no suspects.
  • They have no search grids or search efforts underway. 

Zoom out: 

• Oklahoma homicide clearance rates, courtesy of NewsNation’s analysis of Murder Accountability Project data.
  • Since 1965 (to 2022) — 79%
  • But that drops over recent years — since 2014, just 60% of homicides are cleared.
  • Since 2018 — 58%
  • Texas County — even worse — 33% of homicides have been cleared from 2018 to 2022 (though there was a lower number of homicides).

Thought bubble: Have you ever watched “CSI”? Or even “Law and Order”? 

• It’s pretty pathetic to only solve a third of recent homicides considering all the new crime-solving technologies in forensics and surveillance we have gained since 1965, when our data begins.

Tune into “On Balance with Leland Vittert” weeknights at 7/6C on NewsNation. Find your channel here. 

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation.