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People slammed Pink Floyds Roger Waters as an anti-Semite long before the Oct. 7 attacks triggered a wave of Jewish hate across the globe.

Waters, the bands co-founder and a still-active rocker at 80, has walked a razor-thin line over the years between criticizing Israel and attacking the people who call the nation home.

He may have crossed said line even for his staunchest defenders.

Waters recently spoke out against fellow rock icon Bono of U2 fame. The Irish superstar reacted swiftly to the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas which killed 1,200 people and kidnapped hundreds more.

Rape. Torture. Beheadings.

The news accounts proved so grisly Bono addressed them from, where else, a concert stage mere hours after the attacks.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation

He paid particular attention to Hamas assault on a music festival dedicated to peace by tweaking the bands 80s smash, Pride (In the Name of Love).

The altered lyrics?

From: Early morning, April four / Shots ring out in the Memphis sky / Free at last, they took your life / they could not take your pride.

To: Early morning, October 7th / As the sun is rising in the desert sky / Stars of David, they took your life / But they could not take your pride.

In the light of whats happened in Israel and Gaza, a song about non-violence seems somewhat ridiculous, even laughable, but our prayers have always been for peace and for non-violenceBut our hearts and our anger, you know where thats pointed. So sing with usand those beautiful kids at that music festival.

The band shared the concert clip via its social media accounts. How could anyone object to U2s tribute, which wasnt aggressive, only heartfelt? What possible argument could be lobbied against it? Shouldnt musicians be particularly outraged by a terrorist attack on a concert?

Tell that to Waters.

He spat out his disgust for what Bono said on Al Jazeera TV : Anybody who knows Bono should go and pick him up by his ankles and shake him until he stops being a [giant] s*** we have to start speaking to these people and saying, Your opinion is so disgusting and degrading, when you stand up for the Zionist entity

What he did in the Sphere in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, singing about the Stars of David, was one of the most disgusting things Ive ever seen in my life.

Remember, Waters is an 80-year-old man.

If that rhetoric came as an isolated outburst some may be willing to forgive if not forget. Except its part of a pattern, one that leaves less and less doubt of Waters intentions.

Jim Dyson/Getty Images

We saw something similar late last year when he sat down for an interview with independent journalist Glenn Greenwald roughly a month after Hamas savagery.

Lets wait and see what happened, was my first reaction [to the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks]. My second reaction was how the hell did the Israelis not know this was going to happen? Theres something very fishy about that.

Theres no proof the Israeli government knew such an attack was coming. Its hard to imagine any government would allow that kind of atrocity to be perpetuated on its people for political purposes.

Greenwald pressed Waters on whether he thought the Oct. 7 attacks were justified.

We dont know what they did do. But was it justified for them to resist the occupation? Yeah.

We knew fairly quickly what Hamas did. The terrorists filmed much of their barbaric acts on GoPro-style cameras, smartphones, and other devices, eager for the world to witness their barbarism. Journalists and Hollywood dwellers got to see a montage of the clips shortly after Oct. 7.

Canadian journalist Matt Gurney called the footage just about the worst thing I have ever seen.

Waters also downplayed the fact that Israeli citizens were targeted in the melee.

The thing was thrown out of all proportion by the Israelis making up stories about beheading babies.

No one has credibly disputed that 1,200 people that day, or that the terrorist group kidnapped men, women, senior citizens and even toddlers following the attacks.

Waters ex-bandmate David Gilmour made up his mind a while ago on whether Waters harbors hate against Jewish people. Last year, Gilmour used his X account to promote the documentary The Dark Side of Roger Waters, a film accusing the singer of anti-Jewish sentiments.

The film, from the Campaign Against Antisemitism, featured first-person accounts by Jewish musicians who worked with Waters Norbert Stachel and Bob Ezrin who claimed they heard him utter anti-Semitic comments.

Gilmours wife, Polly Samson, added fuel to the fire by saying Waters was antisemitic to [his] rotten core.

All of this comes after Waters infamous stage antics where he performed under an inflatable pig emblazoned with the Star of David and strode across the stage wearing a Nazi-like uniform . The latter, he said, was his way of opposing fascism and bigotry.

The most intriguing part of it all? Weve seen actors face professional blowback recently for sharing anti-Israeli comments, including Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon . Cancel Culture also erased Roseanne Barrs career for a horrid Tweet.

Waters, on the other hand, has endured few repercussions for his chronic words and actions.

City Council members in Frankfurt, Germany, briefly stopped a planned May 2023 concert by the rocker, declaring that Waters repeatedly called for a cultural boycott of Israel and drew comparisons to the apartheid regime in South Africa and put pressure on artists to cancel events in Israel.

A court overruled the decision .

* * *

Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor ofHollywoodInToto.com. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News Big Hollywood. Follow him at@HollywoodInToto.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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Ohio State-Michigan live updates: Wolverines trying for five straight

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Ohio State-Michigan live updates: Wolverines trying for five straight

Rivalry Week has already seen one upset that will affect a conference championship and College Football Playoff seeding. Could we see another one?

On Friday, Texas upset the Texas A&M Aggies to give A&M its first loss of the season and knock the Aggies out of the SEC championship game. Michigan is in a strikingly similar position. Ohio State is undefeated and No. 1 in the CFP rankings. It needs a win to set up a meeting with Indiana in next week’s Big Ten title game.

OSU has been largely unchallenged since defeating Texas in Week 1, and now it faces its biggest rival, which is hasn’t beaten in four years. Can the Wolverines pull another upset? It’s “The Game,” and we’re tracking the top moments and biggest plays:

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Crypto self-custody is a fundamental right, says SEC’s Hester Peirce

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Crypto self-custody is a fundamental right, says SEC's Hester Peirce

Hester Peirce, a commissioner of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and head of the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, reaffirmed the right to crypto self-custody and privacy in financial transactions.

“I’m a freedom maximalist,” Peirce told The Rollup podcast on Friday, while saying that self-custody of assets is a fundamental human right. She added:

“Why should I have to be forced to go through someone else to hold my assets? It baffles me that in this country, which is so premised on freedom, that would even be an issue — of course, people can hold their own assets.”

Privacy, SEC, Freedom, United States, Self Custody, Bitcoin Adoption, ETF
SEC commissioner Hester Peirce discusses the right to self-custody and financial privacy. Source: The Rollup

Peirce added that online financial privacy should be the standard. “It has become the presumption that if you want to keep your transactions private, you’re doing something wrong, but it should be exactly the opposite presumption,” she said.

The comments came as the Digital Asset Market Structure Clarity Act, a crypto market structure bill that includes provisions for self-custody, anti-money laundering(AML) regulations, and asset taxonomy, is delayed until 2026, according to Senator Tim Scott.

Related: SEC to hold privacy and financial surveillance roundtable in December

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) challenge Bitcoin’s self-custody ethos

Many large Bitcoin (BTC) whales and long-term holders are pivoting from self-custody to ETFs to reap the tax benefits and hassle-free management of owning crypto in an investment vehicle.

“We are witnessing the first decline in self-custodied Bitcoin in 15 years,” Dr. Martin Hiesboeck, the head of research at crypto exchange Uphold, said.