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Parents Seek Tuition Refund Amidst College Protests
No safe spaces, but plenty of expensive ones.
by Kelli Ballard | May 6, 2024
The pro-Palestine college protests across the nation have caused disruption and unease. Jewish students have been told to stay home and do their work online, and protesters have taken over buildings and engaged in disturbing and often violent behavior. With graduation coming up soon, some schools have even elected to cancel the once-in-a-lifetime event. It seems that resentment over these institutions’ capitulation to a mob of demonstrators has reached a boiling point. Parents have certainly had it – and now many are demanding colleges refund their children’s tuition fees.
College Protests Angering Parents
Education doesn’t come cheap, especially when attending elite universities that cost upwards of $90,000 per year. The college protests, however, are disrupting the pricey classes, and parents are beginning to speak out. “They are not getting the education they expected and paid for,” Zev Gewurz, a Boston real estate lawyer whose daughter is a senior at Barnard College in New York City, told The Wall Street Journal. He said his daughter was supposed to deliver her final thesis last week and attend a luncheon, but the public presentation and guest lunch were canceled, along with in-person classes.
Lana Shami has a daughter attending the University of Southern California where the average annual tuition is nearly $70,000. Since there won’t be a graduation ceremony, she and other family members will be flying to California and going out to dinner to celebrate. “There will be no celebration at the university where we paid an exorbitant amount of tuition for the past four years,” she told The Journal. “It’s a huge letdown.”
Christopher Rim, founder and CEO of Command Education, told The WSJ he had received around 25 similar calls in a week from parents of students who attend the University of California, Los Angeles and Columbia University who wanted full or partial refunds from the institutions. “Physically blocking their child from attending class or a lecture hall is 100% not what they signed up for,” he said. “They are beyond upset at what’s going on.”
It Isn’t Just Parents
The Columbia Daily Spectator and New York magazine conducted a poll of 719 students, professors, and other active members of Columbia University between April 26 and May 2. Of the participants, 5% were conservative, 18% identified as moderate, 35% were leftist, and 40% were liberal. When asked if anti-Semitism is a problem at the university, 33% strongly agreed. But, when questioned on whether they felt they could express their political views on campus freely, only 8% strongly agreed. The participants were asked if the college protests had affected their academic work. Here are a few of the responses:
Professors are worried about speaking about the conflict due to fears of getting fired.
Students are policing one another and recording classes without consent.
As a person of color, I am scared to go to libraries knowing there are dozens of cops outside.
I lost my internship because I went crazy.
Since April 18, when 108 Columbia University students were arrested, the protests have only escalated. As of May 3, more than 2,200 people have been arrested on campuses in at least 22 states. The University of Southern California not only canceled the speech of its pro-Palestinian valedictorian, but it has also canceled the main commencement ceremony, claiming safety concerns.
“These antisemitic, anti-American radicals will seize on any opportunity to hijack the spotlight to harass and intimidate Jewish and pro-Israel students, so we expect to see disruptions at public functions, including graduations,” Liora Rez, founder and executive director of StopAntisemitism, told The Hill.
House Education Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said, “Instead of canceling graduation ceremonies out of fear of antisemitic disruptions, institutional leaders should grow a backbone and fight back against antisemitism on their campuses with decisive action and moral clarity.”
When parents and students fork out more money than many Americans make in one year, there are expectations. It seems that the rhetoric of tolerance espoused by elite educational institutions has morphed into cowardice from leadership and capitulation to the mob. With these supposed centers of excellence now failing to deliver even on providing in-person classes, parents have got to be asking themselves whether higher education is an investment worth making.
https://www.libertynation.com/parents-seek-tuition-refund-amidst-college-protests/
MTG Is Coming for Mike Johnson – But the Democrats Have His Back
Can Marjorie Taylor Greene rally the troops, or will even her own party leave her hanging?
by James Fite | May 6, 2024
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has announced that she’s finally forcing a vote on her motion to vacate the House speaker’s chair … soon. The Georgia lawmaker first filed her motion to oust Mike Johnson (R-LA) after he helped pass the $1.2 trillion spending bill to keep the government rolling back in March. Now she plans to force the vote sometime in the coming week, but does she have the support she needs to take Johnson down?
An obstacle to her aspirations seems to be the support Johnson enjoys among House Democrats. A handful of Republicans have also made public remarks either defending the speaker or criticizing Greene – or both – making the motion to vacate seem destined to fail. But what price will Johnson, or his fellow Republicans, for that matter, pay for this help from across the aisle?
Will the Democrats Save Mike Johnson?
If the Democratic caucus voted against Johnson, as it did with Kevin McCarthy’s ouster as speaker, it would take just a handful of rebel Republicans to pluck the gavel from the current speaker’s grasp. But Democratic leaders took this option out of play.
“At this moment, upon completion of our national security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican obstruction,” read a statement in late April by the three leading Democrats in the House, Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Katherine Clark (D-MA), and Pete Aguilar (D-CA). “We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Motion to Vacate the Chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed.” While some Democrats might refuse to toe the party line and vote to oust Johnson for their own reasons, the majority are likely to follow their leaders in this, meaning that Johnson’s position as speaker of the House is safe – at least for now.
But what of his career in the broader sense? If a sizable group of Republicans vote to vacate the chair, there will certainly be those who say Johnson’s own party wanted him out, but the Democrats propped him up anyway – and the more Republicans that vote against Johnson, the worse that perception will be. And that isn’t the only way this can come back later to bite the speaker – or Republicans in general. By standing united behind Johnson, House Democrats get to campaign on both unity and bipartisanship. They will be able to tell voters they stood united while Republicans bickered among themselves, and they’ll get to say they were able to put people before politics and work across the aisle to get the work done and keep the wheels turning.
Indeed, Hakeem Jeffries has already started crafting this narrative on the Sunday shows. Speaking with CBS, he said:
“Even though we’re in the minority, we effectively have been governing as if we were in the majority because we continue to provide a majority of the votes necessary to get things done… Those are just the facts.
“It’s a difficult situation on the other side of the aisle, because many of my Republican colleagues are more interested in creating chaos, dysfunction, and extremism.”
New Banner Political Power PlaysSpeaker Johnson may come away from this vote looking rather blue to conservative voters if enough Republicans vote to vacate – but he and the rest of the GOP stand to lose the majority if Democrats manage to rally their base and convince enough independent voters that they are the more moderate, cooler heads in the room.
Republicans – Anything but Unified
The Democrats aren’t the only ones likely to protect Speaker Johnson; several Republicans have said they wouldn’t vote to vacate. Johnson himself has been both critical and dismissive of Greene’s threats, as might be expected, and Rep. Marc Molinaro of New York called the motion political theater, adding that “it’s time to move on and to move past this kind of nonsense.” Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican, called it a distraction and a mistake. Dan Crenshaw of Texas accused Greene of just looking for “her time in the spotlight,” calling the motion “one last ditch effort to get attention.” Rep. Bob Good of Virginia said his Peach State colleague isn’t “acting in the best interest of Donald Trump.”
Looking at the bigger picture, RNC Chair Michael Whatley is calling for party unity in opposition to Greene’s motion. “We need to flip the Senate, and we need to expand our majority in the House,” he said. “We’re not going to do that if we’re not unified.”
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) called Greene’s attempt to remove Johnson as speaker disgusting. “Ninety-eight percent of us find it disgusting,” he said. “I just try to ignore it. I can’t help what she does. I think we’ll overwhelmingly oppose it, and I think even on the Democrat side, we’ll have a lot of support. We’re tired of the chaos. We’re tired of the anarchy.” Matt Gaetz of Florida wasn’t as critical of Greene as the others, but he did say that he didn’t think the chaos of another battle for the speakership would be good for the House or the party – especially this close to Election Day.
Outside of the House, GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina called Ms. Greene “uninformed,” “a horrible leader,” and a “total waste of time.” He added: “She, not the Democrats, are the biggest risk to us getting back to a majority.” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said her plan to oust Johnson is “utterly ridiculous” and warned that it might damage the Republican Party itself.
Could Bacon be on point with his 98% estimate? Perhaps – but then again, perhaps not. About half a dozen House Republicans have spoken out in criticism of the motion to vacate – and only two other GOP representatives, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Arizona’s Paul Gosar, have openly aligned with Greene. Out of 217 Republicans, that leaves a lot of undeclared intention to account for.
https://www.libertynation.com/mtg-is-coming-for-mike-johnson-but-the-democrats-have-his-back/
Add DACA Healthcare to Your Monthly Bills
Dreamers set to enroll in Obamacare courtesy of the US taxpayer.
by Leesa K. Donner | May 6, 2024
In the never-ending list of what American taxpayers are expected to fund comes a new scheme to allow immigrants known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients to enroll in Obamacare. The Biden administration announced the plan on Friday, May 3, and it will take effect on November 1, 2024, just a few days before the big election. Is this DACA healthcare plan just a craven ploy by the president to appeal to the Hispanic voting bloc, a part of the electorate in which polls show he is losing support?
If it isn’t, a skeptic might not be faulted for thinking it certainly has that appearance. The White House announcement for the new program stated: “Dreamers are our loved ones, our nurses, teachers, and small business owners. And they deserve the promise of health care just like all of us.” Unsaid, of course, is that deserving something and being able to afford it are two different things.
This wasn’t the administration’s original proposal. Initially, it wanted to extend Medicaid benefits to the Dreamers, but White House officials claim that was scrapped “after receiving more than 20,000 comments on the proposal”, according to a report by ABC News. It has been widely reported that the administration expects approximately 100,000 DACA recipients to sign up, though it is unclear how they came to that number. (The announcement from the White House says there are currently 800,000 Dreamers in the US.) Still, Healthcare coverage for this amount of people is expected to cost in the neighborhood of $240 million for 2025 and $300 million for 2026.
DACA Healthcare – Dreaming the Dream
Dreamers are immigrants who were brought into the country as children. The entire DACA program remains in the US court system. It began under President Obama, was slated for extinction under President Trump, and has been ping-ponging across the US court landscape since then. Because of this legal tangle, The Hill reports, “the federal government is barred from adding new beneficiaries to DACA.” But that doesn’t mean the current Dreamers are going anywhere. Apparently, this doesn’t stop the president from handing out DACA healthcare, either.
Conservatives have been quite vocal about their displeasure with the plan on the social media platform X. Replying to a post by former Trump advisor Stephen Miller, SamJ wrote: “Someone should tell Biden that Americans have dreams too: a secure and prosperous America ….a wealthy middle class….no ILLEGALS…” X poster David G. Miller chimed in with: “Once again the Biden regime continues to fight Against the AMERICAN TAXPAYER!!!” Someone who goes by “Restoring Our Republic” remarked, “My last check-up was over 10 years ago, and I still can’t afford healthcare, yet I get taxed to death. Lovely news.” Yet another cried, “Is this even legal?”
The short answer is, well … maybe – but in the meantime, the administration has cleverly accomplished an end run around Congress. A White House official claims additional money is not needed, which means Congress does not have to pass legislation to fund it. This could only indicate there is Monopoly money hanging around – perhaps a presidential community chest?
Although DACA was created in 2012, the status of those brought into the country as children remains in limbo. Meanwhile, those seeking asylum or having temporary protected status can get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.
Some may wonder why the White House pulled the trigger on the deal now. “It comes as federal health officials have pushed out a flurry of rules in recent weeks as the administration closes in on a deadline under the Congressional Review Act, which allows lawmakers to overturn recently finalized rules,” according to a Politico report.
When President Trump tried to ditch the DACA program during his tenure in office, the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against the administration. However, in 2018, US District Judge Andrew S. Hanen declared the memo by the Department of Homeland Security that initially created the program “exceeded its authority and violated federal procedural rules,” according to the LA Times. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the judge’s ruling, but it also gave the Biden administration another bite at the apple to rewrite the DHS rule. Thus, handing out DACA healthcare to a group may only gum up the works even further. Nevertheless, the injunction remains in place, as does DACA, which means this latest move by the administration is ripe to become yet another court case.
https://www.libertynation.com/add-daca-healthcare-to-your-monthly-bills/
Prisoners of Themselves
“Ok, let’s be clear. If the intelligence community led by the CIA is not the “deep state,” what is?” — Jeffrey Tucker
James Howard Kunstler
May 06, 2024
You realize, don’t you, that the gross misconduct of government officials from RussiaGate on down to the courtroom of Judge Juan Merchan has amounted to one continuous operation against the American people? If it were ever honestly adjudicated, many hundreds of them might go to prison, or worse. Each successive seditious and treasonous action they attempt against their arch-nemesis, Mr. Trump, only compounds their criminal liability — the Steele Dossier, CIA agent Eric Ciaramella’s 2019 impeachment prank, the Covid-19 caper, the George Floyd-BLM hustle, the 2020 election hijinks, the J-6 op and the House J-6 Committee conjured up to spin it, the present battery of farcical court cases — and yet the Golden Golem of Greatness not only remains defiantly at large, but seems to amass ever more electoral mojo.
The epic failure of these mighty efforts, and the humiliation entailed, has lately driven this vast bureaucratic cabal — collectively styled as “the blob” — to a stage of abject desperation that looks a lot like insanity. They fear for their lives, their fortunes, their chattels, and their families, and they seem ready to wreck the republic to save themselves. They have so far pretty much wrecked American justice with their lawfare tactics — a degenerate campaign to use the vested authority of prosecutors and judges to twist and cheat the law at the cost of the law’s legitimacy. Merrick Garland, Norm Eisen, Andrew Weismann, Mary McCord, Lisa Monaco, Marc Elias, Christopher Wray, Letitia James, Fani Willis, Alvin Bragg have made law the enemy of the people.
All this becomes more obvious each day, for instance events of the past week in Judge Aileen Cannon’s federal courtroom in Florida where the Mar-a-Lago documents case proceeds. Turns out that Special Counsel Jack Smith has deliberately messed with the evidence, which is patently felonious. Also, turns out that sometime between the “Joe Biden” inauguration and the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago in August, 2022, boxes of presidential documents stored by the US General Services Administration were “delivered” to Mr. Trump’s mansion without any proper accounting for what might have been in them. A set-up you suppose? Why not? After everything else the FBI and the DOJ have attempted since 2015?
Christopher Wray in particular might have wanted some surefire probable cause to get his agents into Mar-a-Lago where, rumor has it, Mr. Trump kept his own dossier of evidence against the FBI and DOJ officials who concocted the “Crossfire Hurricane” chapter of RussiaGate. Even if you assume that Mr. Trump had multiple copies of the thing, FBI Director Wray — in position since 2017 throughout most of RussiaGate — surely wanted to see what Mr. Trump was holding if it would become necessary for current and former FBI / DOJ officials to defend themselves in court against very serious charges.
You see the desperation, don’t you? And how stupendously amateurish these machinations have been? Planting evidence and then fiddling around with it? I’m waiting for the moment when Judge Cannon summons Jack Smith and announces to his face that she is tossing the case for prosecutorial misconduct. Will she add a criminal referral to that? How will that affect the other case (attempting to overturn the 2020 election) brought against Mr. Trump in Judge Tanya Chutkan’s DC federal district court? Who will prosecute it if Jack Smith can no longer function as Special Counsel? And since the case was contrived in his name — even if Eisen, McCord, Weissmann, and others are really the authors — does that case blow up, too?
Letitia James’s real estate case under Judge Arthur Engoron was so idiotic it can’t possibly survive an ultimate appeal, and the Alvin Bragg confection under Judge Merchan is playing out like something that usually only happens in places like Honduras or Liberia. Yet the American Left, the “progressive” Democratic Party, is staking everything on it. It’s all they have left Lawfare-wise, at least for now. Which brings us to the question: Why do the non-governmental elites of this land, the managerial and thinking classes, the college presidents, the cable news producers, the corporate execs, the movie directors, the whole arts establishment. . . why do they feel compelled, for nearly a decade now, to hitch their identity and their self-respect to this fantastic train of Kafka-esque corruption, tyranny, and abuse? How did they get owned by the blob?
We may never find out, and they may never know either, even after they snap out of the mass formation they’ve been in thrall to. But they have made themselves ridiculous — figures like Sam Harris, Steven Colbert, and Rob Reiner — yelling about “saving our democracy” while the blob they worship systematically disassembles the US Constitution, and makes American law a global laughingstock.
Most of my old ex-friends are riding the same ideological bus. You have to wonder: how did the likes of “Joe Biden,” Merrick Garland, Liz Cheney, Adam Schiff, Christopher Wray, Fani Willis, Anthony Fauci, Klaus Schwab, and Bill Gates become their heroes? Did the Covid vaccines destroy their minds? Are they really avid for central bank digital money and surveillance of their every move? Do they want to be told how to live by the WHO? Things are going south fast now in our country. If these people ever cherished the idea of being free to think their own thoughts and live their own lives, it’s getting late in the game. They will end up prisoners of themselves.
https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/prisoners-of-themselves?publication_id=2076970&post_id=144361665&isFreemail=true&r=rd9j8&triedRedirect=true
Pointing to the Looming EV Market Crash Suddenly Goes Mainstream
David Blackmon
May 06, 2024
Well, that didn’t take long, did it? I mean, I only started actively predicting a crash in the western world’s EV market late last year, and I’ve been skeptical about the tech’s potential all along, based on the fact that the industry still hasn’t solved the very same shortcomings and consumer concerns that caused it to crash 120 years ago. In 1901, electric cars outnumbered internal combustion cars by a wide margin. Within the next 5 years, the equation had reversed.
This isn’t anything new, and now, some legacy media outlets that have served as loyal boosters of this failing energy transition are starting to catch on.
The Times of London, one of the most shameless EV booster outlets, ran a story on Sunday headlined “The electric car crash will rival the dotcom bubble.”
That prediction could prove to be hyperbolic. Then again, maybe not.
Here’s an excerpt from that story:
What we are witnessing is an imminent business catastrophe impelled by a global corporate stampede: the herd was galvanised by governments, which have yet to recognise, let alone admit, their own responsibility.
In terms of global misallocation of capital, there has been nothing like it since the dotcom bubble. As far as the UK is concerned, the obvious thing for the government to do is to live up to Claire Coutinho’s words and abandon the attempt to force consumers to buy products they don’t entirely trust, which can only end terribly for the businesses involved.
Wow. That’s pretty damn blunt.
But the London Times isn’t the only legacy outlet commenting on the problem. Helen Thomas, a senior editor at the Financial Times, weighed in on the same day with a piece carrying this ominous headline: “The EV car crash is a warning for Europe’s industrial transition.”
But even in commenting on Europe’s approaching EV bloodbath, Thomas cannot bring herself to admit to reality.
In the piece, Thomas details how Chinese EV makers are already making big inroads into the European auto market and bemoans the fact that Europe’s own carmakers have been slow to adapt. She also pooh-poohs “complaints” by Europe’s carmakers that China has all sorts of advantages in the markets, controlling as it does supply chains for pretty much all of the minerals and parts that go into making of EVs, referring to them as “both true and slightly academic at this stage.”
Check out this excerpt:
But the sector itself continues to hedge its bets. It is still demanding “technological neutrality” from policymakers. That arguably gives policymakers an out from, say, building the dense charging network needed for widespread adoption and for reducing battery size and costs. Europe’s exemption for cars run on so-called e-fuels to Europe’s 2035 sales ban is a classic example — a political sop that spreads industry hopes across another technology that isn’t commercially viable, isn’t available at scale and will be needed in other sectors, such as aviation.
“This discussion of ‘what is the best technology’ is not helpful,” says Fabian Brandt, head of automotive at Oliver Wyman. “From an efficiency standpoint, there is no doubt that battery electric vehicles are the preferred technology. The industry needs to be decisive and go all in.”
[End]
You have to love the part about how the industry “needs to go all in” on EVs.
Think about it: What if Ford had decided to go all-in on EVs in 2021? It would be out of business now, since it would not have been able to rely on its hugely profitable ICE models to offset the well more than $10 billion it has lost on EV investments. The same is likely true of GM and Stellantis, and is very probably true of European carmakers like BMW, Mercedes and Volvo.
In reality, a “go all in” strategic approach would become a “go broke and leave the market to China” strategy.
Thomas derides the Euro-car industry for continuing to “hedge its bets.” But what we see here is that, while the Times of London seems to understand the disaster this mad government-driven rush to EVs is going to create in Europe’s auto industry, it is the Financial Times that is still hedging its own bets.
Thomas ends her piece by quoting Harry Benham of Carbon Factor as accusing the Euro-car industry of “whistling as the darkness crept in.” In truth, the same could be said of the FT.
Thomas’s piece is, at the end of the day, a continuation of the leftist climate alarmist hubris that government policy can simply override market forces, an eternal misperception that inevitably ends in economic and financial ruin. The Times of London, amazingly, seems to no longer be laboring under such illusion.
That is all.
https://blackmon.substack.com/p/pointing-to-the-looming-ev-market?publication_id=712558&post_id=144358918&isFreemail=false&r=rd9j8&triedRedirect=true
Israeli Officials: White House Put U.S. Ammo Shipment on Hold
By Sandy Fitzgerald | Sunday, 05 May 2024 01:14 PM EDT
The Biden administration put a hold on a shipment of American-made ammunition to Israel last week amid concerns over an Israeli invasion of the Gazan city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinian refugees are taking shelter, according to two Israeli officials.
The ammunition hold marks the first time the United States has stopped a shipment to the Israeli military since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, and is raising concerns inside Israel's government, officials told Axios.
The White House declined to comment on the decision, and the Pentagon, State Department, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not respond to questions.
However, Biden is facing criticism over his support of Israel's actions in Gaza, and the administration asked in February that the Israeli military show proof that U.S.-made weapons are being used in accordance with international law. Israel signed a letter of its assurances in March.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted several times in recent days that he plans to order the invasion of Rafah, even if Israel and Hamas can reach a deal for a cease-fire and the release of hostages Hamas is still holding in Gaza.
The prime minister, in a statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday, hinted at the tensions with the Biden administration.
"In the terrible Holocaust, there were great world leaders who stood by idly; therefore, the first lesson of the Holocaust is: If we do not defend ourselves, nobody will defend us. And if we need to stand alone, we will stand alone," he commented.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu and Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a "tough" conversation in Israel about the planned Rafah operation, sources briefed on the meeting said.
Blinken reportedly told Netanyahu that the United States would publicly oppose a strike on Rafah and that military action in the city would hurt relations between the United States and Israel.
Thursday, White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Israeli leaders know that Biden is "sincere" about changing policy about the war in Gaza if the ground operation "doesn't take into account the refugees."
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan Saturday reiterated that stance, commenting at a Financial Times conference that the administration has made it clear that U.S. policy will be influenced by how the Rafah operation progresses.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu has said he will not agree to end the war as part of a hostage deal that allows Hamas to remain in power in Gaza.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/israel-biden-ammunition/2024/05/05/id/1163544/?ns_mail_uid=110c4f27-b39e-4490-8c9e-becd156886f8&ns_mail_job=DM618014_05062024&s=acs&dkt_nbr=010502my8i9p
The Corruption of Rep. Adam Schiff is Reaching a Tipping Point
Rachel Alexander
| May 06, 2024
It is no secret that far left Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff uses sleazy tactics to go after his political opponents. While most members of Congress usually skate on ethics charges, or receive light penalties, once in a great while their behavior is so overtly criminal that they end up prosecuted. Although Democrats are far more likely to use lawfare against Republicans than vice versa, when the behavior is so criminal, even Democrats — such as New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez who is being prosecuted for bribery — can’t escape justice.
Schiff is getting dangerously close to this stage. When he became chair of the House Intelligence Committee in 2019, he made it a personal mission to investigate Donald Trump's supposed connections to Russia, completely separate from and in addition to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
When Mueller concluded there was no collusion between Trump and Russia, Schiff dismissively blew off the exoneration, hinting that he would continue his own investigation. “[T]here may be, for example, evidence of collusion or conspiracy that is clear and convincing, but not proof beyond a reasonable doubt," he said during an interview in February 2019.
The nine Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee called for Schiff to resign in March 2019 due to his false claims of collusion. The Center for Renewing America sent a letter to the Office of Congressional Ethics in June 2023, outlining Schiff’s improper actions, including his attempts to get X to censure unfavorable posts and claiming the Hunter Biden collusion in Ukraine was a product of Russian disinformation. The letter asked for discipline up to expulsion.
That same month, the House of Representatives censured Schiff over the Russia collusion hoax. They listed specific instances of wrongdoing. First, they cited his memo that falsely claimed that the warrant application for the FISA wiretap of Trump associate Carter Page was accurate. The application was “later found by Inspector General Horowitz to have 17 major mistakes and omissions, provoking FISA Court Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer to state unequivocally that the Federal Bureau of Investigation ‘misled the FISC,’” the censure said.
Next, the censure accused Schiff of “publicly, falsely denying that his staff communicated with a whistleblower to launch the first impeachment of President Trump.” Finally, the censure stated that “Schiff misled the public by reading a false retelling of a phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.”
Now it’s come out that Schiff paid the daughter of the judge handling New York DA Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of Trump $4 million to push the Russia collusion hoax. Loren Merchan’s hatred of Trump is so extreme that she used a photo of Trump behind bars as her profile picture on X. She runs a digital marketing agency that works with Democrats and progressive groups.
Yet New York Judge Juan Merchan’s gag order against Trump prohibits him talking about his daughter. Merchan has not slapped a gag order on the prosecution or their witnesses, so Trump’s turncoat former attorney Michael Cohen has been blabbing endlessly about him, posting rants about the trial on TikTok every evening.
I would predict that any guilty verdict will be overturned based on this obvious bias by the judge, but after former Trump associate Hope Hicks surprised the politically motivated prosecutors by exonerating Trump last week, there is unlikely to be a conviction. Hicks said the money allegedly paid to porn star and liar Stormy Daniels was to protect Trump’s wife Melania, not to protect the campaign. The crux of the case against Trump is that it was an illegal campaign contribution.
An ethics complaint was filed against Schiff recently, alleging election fraud and mortgage fraud. Schiff is running for the U.S. Senate in California, but has been living in Maryland while voting in California. Former Oklahoma Rep. Steve Watkins was prosecuted for allegedly voting in the wrong Topeka City Council race after listing a UPS Store as his voting address.
While running for the U.S. Senate, Schiff has brazenly engaged in sleazy tactics. He spent $10 million promoting his Republican opponent during the primary. Since California uses “top 2” voting, which means the top two vote getters in the primary move on to the general, he wanted to ensure that Republican Steve Garvey ended up with the second most votes instead of his two Democratic challengers. On the campaign trail, Schiff brags about his political persecution of Trump as a campaign platform.
Schiff isn’t a principled leftist. In the late 1990s, he sponsored bills in the California Legislature which would have made it a felony to hire an illegal immigrant, and to allow minors 14 or older accused of serious crimes to be tried as adults.
If the roles were reversed, and Schiff had engaged in this corruption as a Republican, aggressive progressive DAs put in their positions by left-wing billionaire George Soros would have begun multiple prosecutions. His law license is safe, however, since it has been inactive since 2001.
Hinting at guilt, Schiff admitted he feared that a Trump administration might prosecute him. Trump has said that Schiff and other members of the January 6th committee, whom he labeled as corrupt, should face prosecution and imprisonment.
Schiff wants the prosecutions against Trump to occur quickly, obviously in order to influence the voters. He complained about Trump’s immunity claim, “The claim is borderline frivolous … they’re drawing it out just enough to make it almost infeasible to try [the cases] before the election,” he said. “It’s still possible to get it done. And I think voters deserve to have that information.”
Will anything be done to Schiff other than the House censure, which is meaningless in practical terms? Maybe eventually. He shows no sign of slowing down the corruption. He’s gotten so brazen about it, since no one has intervened to stop him, that he may finally engage in criminal activity so outrageous that even compromised judges draw the line.
https://townhall.com/columnists/rachelalexander/2024/05/06/the-corruption-of-rep-adam-schiff-is-reaching-a-tipping-point-n2638666
GM DD-
No one has bigger blinders than liberal democrats that can't or refuse to see what a disaster the Biden administration. is. I do understand it though. There is nothing to crow about with Biden so Trump has to be the target. Everything that Biden puts out that seems positive at first falls apart under closer scrutiny.
...........al
Hey Gmenfan-
And the pink pussy hat brigade is still MIA.
......................al
Grotesque: The clownish trend towards exaggerated eyelashes and lips
By M.B. Mathews
Palestinians can pound sand
By Gerald McGlothlin
Fake media, fake claims of 'fraud' directed at President Trump
By Jack Hellner
Science fiction fans should abandon wokester 'Star Wars' for franchises that don't hate them
By Julian R. Sinclair
Star Wars actor Mark Hamill recently appeared at a White House Press Conference, endorsing Joseph Robinette Biden for the presidency. It was one of the most cringe-worthy moments in media history, and odds are, you know about it, so I will spare you the details.
For those who do not follow science fiction, Star Wars and Star Trek have been on the decline since 2005, at the very least.
Things did not come to the forefront until George Lucas sold Star Wars to Disney in 2012 and Kathleen Kennedy took over as head of Lucasfilm. Kennedy loudly announced “The Force is Female” while Disney executives while Disney executives proudly proclaimed their “Not so secret gay agenda.”
Although Trump-supporter Manny Coto was the showrunner for the last season of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005, the series as been on the decline ever since the Berman/Braga Era. This was after Gene Roddenberry, the coke-addicted alcoholic who abused the staff of Star Trek: The Next Generation through his attorney, Leonard Maizlish, was forced out in 1989.
Alex Kurtzman took over after the 2009 Star Trek film, and things went downhill from there. Star Trek: Discovery is one of the most widely-mocked shows in history, and Star Trek: Picard was an overall terrible production. Star Trek: New Worlds even had January 6 as a “major event.”
Fellow conservatives: why support/watch science fiction franchises that hate you? The producers, writers and actors all hate you, the United States, Christianity, and Western Civilization in general.
If you are a science fiction fan, here are some science fiction franchises that do not hate you, and will often agree with your values.
The Honor Harrington Series by David Weber
Directly inspired by the Horatio Hornblower novels by C.S. Forrester, this series features a “Napoleonic Wars, in space” with an obvious stand-ins for the French Republic, British Empire, German states, and more. The series has a very pro-religion, anti-communist bent, and openly endorses capitalism and condemns communism. I read the entire series during my first deployment to Iraq, and it is the spiritual “opposite” of Star Trek in almost every way possible.
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
Arguably the greatest philosophical science fiction story ever written, it is more of an essay on good governance with a great character story added in. Contrary to the 1997 film by Paul Verhoeven (who openly hated Heinlein), the Federal Service and Citizenship work like this: To join the Federal Service is a right not a privilege. No matter how old, injured or infirm a person is, they can volunteer for the Federal Service for at least 2 years and upon conclusion of this service, receive citizenship and the right to vote. This Federal Service is not exclusively military: a blind, paraplegic that signs up for the Federal Service *will* have a job, likely along the lines of testing experimental medical treatments or vaccines (a very dangerous endeavor). The only way one can be denied Federal Service is if it is deemed they are not mentally capable of understanding the oath.
Those who do not decide to do Federal Service still have civil rights, such as free speech, the right to a fair trial and equal protection of the law. What they do not have is the right to have a say in the governance of society. This is done under the following principle: Human beings are not naturally good, and the highest motivator for a human being is self-interest. Only those who can demonstrably put their own self-interest below that of society’s interest (by joining the Federal Service) are allowed to have serious power in society. Here is more.
Helldivers II by Arrowhead Game Studios
This series was clearly inspired by Starship Troopers, and there is a chance that the producers wanted to do a Starship Troopers video game but were unable to secure the rights. The ideology in the series is more ambiguous than in Starship Troopers or the Honor Harrington series, but the principles of sacrifice, bravery and fighting for one’s country are all reinforced and supported by game. The game is available on Steam, and you can join the fight to spread Managed Democracy for only $39.99.
Let's abandon the woke franchises of Star Wars and Star Trek and support the SciFi serieses that don’t hate you and your values. If they are financially successful, it is possible that studios like Daily Wire or Angel Studios could produce a T.V. series or films based upon these franchises in the future.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/05/science_fiction_fans_should_abandon_wokester_star_wars_for_franchises_that_don_t_hate_them.html
Will protesting students face consequences?
By Mike McDaniel
Trans: middle school girls lead the way
By Mike McDaniel
How Trump seals the deal in 2024
By Gerald McGlothlin
As the November elections loom just six months away, I recently conducted a search for the past six months for a phrase often used: “Mushy Moderate Middle.” This phrase is intended to encapsulate the segment of the electorate often described as “low-information voters,” those whose voting decisions are guided by factors starkly different from the ideological deliberations that influence committed liberals or conservatives. Surprisingly, my search returned zero results.
This absence of recognition could suggest that my favored descriptor isn’t as widely accepted or clever as I presumed, or perhaps it points to a broader oversight within political discourse.
The “Mushy Moderate Middle” arguably represents a significant portion of the American electorate that doesn’t engage deeply with polarizing issues like how many transgenders can dance on the head of a pin, nor do they lose sleep over fiscal policies like capital gains taxes for businesses in American Samoa.
The interests of the Mushy Moderate Middle lean more toward everyday topics — sports, entertainment, family activities, and other casual conversations that might dominate water cooler discussions — rather than engaging in intense political debates that capture the attention of the most active 10% on the left and 10% on the right who find such dominant focus on “trivial” pursuits as unthinkable.
But it’s this vast middle ground that determines elections, since it constitutes up to 80% of voters, yet it is curiously neglected in most media narratives, which tend to focus disproportionately on the fringes of political discourse. These dedicated issues-oriented believers act as the vocal bookends, holding the rest of the political spectrum in place, yet they are not representative of the majority. The media’s obsession with these extremes overlooks the potential sway of the moderate majority, whose votes are up for grabs and whose preferences can be pivotal in a general election.
Almost inexplicably, politicians court the Mushy Moderate Middle by compromising their political positions to cater to this middle voting market...when there is no need to compromise!
That bears repeating. Skillfully navigating the Mushy Moderate Middle is implementing a simple offensive to court these mainstream voters. This involves basic relatability, plus not placating them by tossing them a bone of compromise as if they actually cared deeply about the same political issues that MAGA supporters espouse. Simply being nice, and moderately persuasive, Trump or any politician can “sell” the mushy middle on his positions. Obama glided to victory by serving them a smile and some Kool-Aid, not a hard-sell Trumpian-style self-focused diatribe.
Barack Obama and Bill Clinton could step on shoes without hurting their shine. But when Trump is in full swing, all he has to do is look at someone’s shoes, and the shine comes off as if battery acid had been poured on them!
One such example was in the 2020 presidential debates. When Biden was losing at every turn, Trump hogged the time past the bell, insisting on injecting more vitriol against Biden, in essence snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory. Trump won the crowd, then lost the crowd, becoming his worst enemy by coming across like a bully and shifting sympathy to Biden in the eyes of low-information voters, who judge candidates on how they treat others and how nice they come across since they often barely know the issues.
Trump’s caustic style makes Biden look like a likable underdog. Is Biden destroying America? Yes. But he’s doing it while appearing to be a somewhat clueless but “nice” guy. Trump is trying to save our Republic, but his style is screaming so loudly that the Mushy Middle can hardly hear a word he’s saying.
Historically, media figures like Rush Limbaugh and now Joe Rogan have demonstrated the power of appealing to different segments of the middle American masses. Limbaugh catered to the middle, the right-of-center crowd, and the hard right, while Rogan attracts a diverse audience from left, right, and center. He’s a populist. Mushy moderates love populists. And to properly navigate the middle, a politician needs to pick some key populist issues that don’t require compromising his values.
What most people don’t know is that Rush Limbaugh had only 15 million weekly listeners. The congenial, self-deprecating Joe Rogan has more like 50 million. Yet how many hard-right politicians do you see featured on Rogan? They apparently haven’t received the memo that Joe Rogan has triple the audience of the old Rush Limbaugh show and six times the audience size of Rush’s current replacement duo who moved in to his old timeslot.
An appearance on Joe Rogan’s show would humanize Trump, showcasing a side that discusses Donald’s non-political interests in such things as sports, entertainment, and basic water cooler topics. Such an approach could help soften his image and appeal to the moderate voters who are turned off by overt arrogance and endless braggadocio and self-promotion.
If Trump doesn’t reinvent himself to appeal to the emotions of the Mushy Moderate Middle, Joe Biden can sail to victory, presenting an image of a congenial, somewhat unremarkable “nice old guy” in contrast to “mean man” Trump.
The ultimate battle for the hearts and minds of the Mushy Moderate Middle will not be won through character assassination and self-righteousness, but rather by love, showing genuine concern for people while continuing with principled conservative policies that can rescue our Republic, and not compromising one iota on the issues. It will require self-control and a genuine effort to connect with the everyday concerns and sensibilities of ordinary Americans.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/05/how_trump_seals_the_deal_in_2024.html
'Give me my money back'
By Silvio Canto, Jr.
What is Biden’s endgame in bringing in terrorists?
By D. Parker
Has Leftist Lawfare Created the Police State Yet?
By Greg Salsbury
Increasing numbers of worried Americans have been wondering over the last few years whether progressive Democrats have succeeded in creating a police state in America. From the Russia Hoax to the revelations of the Twitter Files release, to the coordinated attempts to quash scandalous and true Biden family stories, to the blatant display of dual justice, they’ve seen that the cabal of one political party, with its power bases in the government and the sycophant media, has succeeded in limiting or destroying political opponents while eliminating individual rights. Just how bad is it? Has that cabal suspended our American Constitution and Bill of Rights and created an authoritarian alternative? Are we there yet?
In his piece “Shock and Awe on the Campaign Trail,” Roger Kimball outlines the numerous and egregious illegalities and irregularities taking place in the legal assault on candidate Trump and asks, “Why are people not up in arms over these revelations?” Similarly, in his interview with Mike Davis, who founded the “Article III Project,” Steve Bannon says, “I don’t know why people are not more on fire with the ridiculousness, the obvious lawfare, which is working, because Trump is not on the campaign trail.”
These are important questions as we look at the nearly countless unprecedented actions involved in some 91 counts of alleged wrongdoing in federal and local indictments filed against the leading presidential candidate. From the eye-popping civil suit verdicts overseen by judges with serious conflicts of interest to attempts to keep Trump off the ballot in several states, to charges related to classified document handling, to the most recent gag order, these efforts have flown in the face of precedent, due process, and equal protection at nearly every turn. They have already achieved much of what they were intended to do: Greatly hamstring (draining time and financial resources) the leading threat to Democrat party/government power.
But why haven’t we seen more overt objection to this travesty, such as more poster-carrying, angry citizens outside of the Trump trial courtrooms, on campuses, at congressional hearings, and in the streets? Part of the answer to this question has to do with the intended target for the shock and awe. It isn’t Donald Trump. As Trump has correctly observed, he is just in the way. No, the primary targets of the shock and awe are people like you and me. And the left may well have hit their mark.
Could it be that the average non-leftist citizen now feels both powerless and terrified to object to any of these injustices? They see the brutal treatment meted out to President Trump, his associates, and his legal team, on the one hand, versus the reverence for a president whose family has inexplicably received millions of dollars from foreign sources and for violent protesters who have magically escaped jail time, or of crack-using, tax-dodging Biden family members.
Consider the brazenness and audacity of this administration, including its DOJ, over the last several years. Their targeted victims have purposely included some of the most credentialed, accomplished, prominent, well-connected, and well-heeled Americans, people such as cabinet members, generals, journalists, and even attorneys of those same victims. Other victims have been ordinary folk, such as people’s friends, family members, parents opposing sexualized curricula at their kids’ schools, or peaceful men and women holding up signs near an abortion clinic.
All of these people, both the prominent and the ordinary, have been subjected to SWAT raids, shackles and frog marches, subpoenas, lawsuits, IRS visits, prison, solitary confinement, and other humiliations. They have seen that anyone whose views or behavior are not to the liking of the Democrat/government/media cabal is a potential victim of the authoritarian state through censorship or lawfare, or both. The message to Joe Citizen is clear: “If we can take down these people, including a U.S. president and billionaire and anyone who supports him, just imagine what we can do to you.”
But that citizen doesn’t have to imagine that message. It is on clear display with the plight of those who wandered around the Capitol on January 6, with some who committed no violence, including seemingly being convicted for wearing a funny horned hat, sentenced to years of prison.
Many of these people have been incarcerated for years, some in solitary confinement, without even being charged, let alone tried, and without access either to medical care or the evidence that would likely exonerate them. Of course, the mainstream media does its part to justify such treatment with the mantra that January 6th represented a massive threat to American democracy.
In sum, it appears that the shock and awe are working. Americans are likely terrified that the extensive lawfare being waged against Trump and others can and will be directed at them if they act or perhaps even speak up incorrectly (e.g., opposing the leftist agenda in any way).
It is not coincidental that the left has accelerated the lawfare as the election looms closer and Biden’s numbers have worsened. Per Gallup, President Biden’s latest quarterly average approval rating hit a new all-time low of 38.7%—which ranks 277th out of 314 presidential quarters in Gallup records dating to 1945—the bottom 12% of all presidential quarters. Gallup points out that not only is Biden’s support weak among Republicans but among independents as well, and there is little indication that it will improve anytime soon. Progressive Democrats now see lawfare as their best chance to produce a result that American voters likely will not.
So, what happens when we follow this path to its end? It is likely that at least one of the kangaroo courts will convict Donald Trump for something criminal. They were giddy about hitting his finances for hundreds of millions of dollars of ridiculous verdicts, but they know that isn’t enough. They need him in jail, and it is more likely than not that they will put him there.
Our mainstream media will cheer. It will be a travesty and a very dark day for America, but don’t expect the left to treat it that way. Anyone who points that out and refuses to acknowledge Donald Trump as a “criminal” or even “felon” will likely be given the J6 treatment by the cabal.
What’s the telling difference between an isolated violation of liberty and a police state? The former is openly identified, condemned, and protested by both the public and the media. In the latter, the public already knows better than to speak up, and the media are complicit. Let us hope that the answer to Mr. Kimball’s question about why more people aren’t up in arms isn’t because we are already there.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/05/has_leftist_lawfare_created_the_police_state_yet.html
Camp Intifada: Students for Theocratic Authoritarianism
By Clarice Feldman
I’m old. So old that I still believe that classic Western liberalism is the best system for assuring prosperity and peace, and authoritarianism, particularly of a theocratic nature, is a disastrous governance style. Watching the encampments and riots on college campuses, I see that too many young people have missed this lesson and instead support violent, barbaric, theocratic authoritarianism. I think these participants are not representative of a majority of students or voters and that the weak responses of some universities bode ill for their futures. Moreover, I think the Administration’s failure to act on the side of Western civilization is seriously damaging President Biden’s reelection prospects, indeed, the prospects for the Democratic party itself. In the absence of a federal response, private litigation is likely to prove particularly damaging to those who have funded and encouraged or tolerated these campus outrages.
Several lawsuits are in the works. At least three have already been filed. The most significant was a suit filed in Virginia this week alleging that the National Students for Justice in Palestine coordinated with Hamas, an organization federally listed as a terrorist organization, to orchestrate these campus attacks. The suit claims that NSJP “has effectively become the campus arm of Hamas” and is “directly aiding and abetting the terror group on American colleges” and “facilitating the conditions necessary for Hamas to continue carrying out acts of terror and the holding of hostages, including American nationals.” If successful, the lawsuit would permanently shut down NSJP and American Muslims for Palestine, a reincarnation of a previous outfit that provided material support for Hamas.
The complaint suggests that the defendants in the case just filed are carrying on in the same ways of the Holy Land Foundation before HLF, along with five of its leaders, were found guilty in a federal court at Dallas of providing material support to Hamas. They were convicted and sent to prison for, in two cases, 65 years. At the time, the assistant attorney general for national security said that the sentences “should serve as a strong warning to anyone who knowingly provides financial support to terrorists under the guise of humanitarian relief.”
The Sun asks Mr. Ostrovsky: What happens if SJP is determined to be a terrorist arm of Hamas? “The ramifications would be extraordinarily wide-ranging,” he says. “First and foremost, it would shut them down once and for all. They would not be allowed to operate in the United States, including campuses. They could not fundraise. It would be illegal to be affiliated with them. There are many other consequences, but there [sic] are a few of the main ones.”
Two significant lawsuits related to these campus outrages are directed at Northwestern University. In the first, brought by three students, the university is charged with breach of contract.
“...alleging that the university violated its duty to abide by its own policies by allowing a climate of antisemitism on its campus.
Attorneys from the Chicago-based Much Shelist, P.C., who brought the suit in Cook County’s circuit court on Wednesday, wrote in the filing that the plaintiffs “expected Northwestern to fulfill a modest core promise it made to them and all other similarly situated, tuition-paying students: the conduct of your student peers and faculty will be governed by rules, and — once you enroll — you will be free to safely move about and avail yourself of our beautiful campus in accordance with those rules.”
“Rather than conduct the business of the campus in accordance with the clear rules of conduct that everyone signed up for,” the attorneys wrote, “Northwestern ignored those rules, opting instead to facilitate, encourage, and coddle a dystopia cesspool of hate in the school’s lush green center, Deering Meadow.”
In the second suit against the school, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) charges that it violated Title VI, contending that the university’s concession to the protestors to award nearly $1.9 million in full-ride scholarships, faculty positions, and student-organization space to Palestinian students and staff violates Title VI’s prohibition against discrimination.
Vic Bernson, Vice President and General Counsel for YAF, stated, “What Northwestern is doing here is completely pathetic. It’s a perfect encapsulation of the infantile DEI mindset in action: those committing illegal acts and spewing antisemitic bile are justified, so let’s not challenge them but instead give them everything they want and they’ll go away. But it never works that way, does it? Appease awful people making awful demands, and they’ll always respond by demanding even more. This is pure cowardice and lunacy, and YAF will fight back with every fiber of our being.”
Additional Background: On April 29, 2024, University officials entered into an agreement with anti-Israel demonstrators occupying a space on campus called Deering Meadow. The officials involved in the agreement are University President Michael Schill, Provost Kathleen Hagerty, and Vice President Susan Davis. Under the agreement, the University promised to provide the “full cost of attendance for five Palestinian undergraduates to attend Northwestern for the duration of their undergraduate careers.”
The agreement also provides “funding two faculty per year for two years,” with the provision that these faculty will be “Palestinian faculty.” Finally, the University promises to “provide immediate temporary space for MENA/Muslim students.” MENA is an acronym for “Middle Eastern and North African” individuals.
Our Legal Grounds: As a recipient of federal funds, the University is subject to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination “on the grounds of race, color, or national origin.” By providing nearly $1.9 million in scholarships, two faculty positions, and “immediate temporary space” based on an individual’s status as Palestinian or MENA, the University is intentionally discriminating against non-Palestinian or non-MENA individuals on the grounds of race, color, or national origin.
As the United States Supreme Court recently held in a case applying Title VI, race and national origin may never operate as a “negative” or a “stereotype.” Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard Coll., 600 U.S. 181, 218 (2023). Discrimination in favor of Palestinians or MENA individuals is, in turn, discrimination against individuals not within those categories and is therefore illegal under federal law. [/quote]
I think it safe to assume that more lawsuits will be filed against more colleges and universities in the coming weeks.
Wretchard T. Cat is correct: not every university response has been identical.
One of the encouraging things about the university response to pro-Hamas protesters has been its variety depending on the state, socio-economic composition of the student body, degree of eliteness etc. of the campus. This indicates a learning response, and adaptive strategy. This is why American society is much more resilient than it might seem. Subsidiary decision making is much more effective than a centralized state response. This is not immediately obvious but quite significant. The responses of the individual colleges, including the ivies, have been far less canned than the protesters, who dress alike, sound alike and think alike. Faced with the frat boy attack, Harvard's 3 foot fence, the water sprinkler defense they could find no answer.
Nevertheless, too many of the affected colleges and universities have failed in their mission to protect a safe learning environment for their students. The reasons are many, including reliance on foreign donations, particularly from Hamas-supporting Qatar, faculty rolls stuffed with anti-American and anti-Israeli ideologues, the DEI staff and humanities departments’ opposition to Jews and Israel, the large number of full-freight paying foreign students who do not share Western values, and the always present faculty and administrative psychological inability to handle conflict.
Still, it seems clear to me that the continued Camp Intifada ruckus and outrageous behavior are seriously damaging not only the Administration’s planned student debt relief but also the president’s reelection and the fate of his party. Rasmussen Reports notes that Trump has widened his lead over Biden by ten points (46% to 36%), and the plan to have Trump jailed on one of the numerous baloney cases recedes even further. (Among other things, Judge Aileen Cannon this week unredacted material in the Mar-a-Largo documents case showing prosecution coordination with the White House, DoJ, and NARA, and the Jack Smith team was forced to a tardy admission it had tampered with the evidence.)
My favorite senator, John Kennedy, nailed it when criticizing the President’s response to anti-Israel demonstrations on American college campuses.
JOHN KENNEDY: It should not go unnoticed that President Biden has the ability to stop all of this on a dime. All he's got to do is call the college presidents and say, look, if you don't get control of your campuses, I'm going to withhold your federal money. The president hasn't done that. The moral of the story is you're never... too old to suck. The reason he hasn't done that is because of politics. CNN just came out with a poll. It said that 52% of likely voters in America will not vote for President Biden under any circumstance, any circumstances... They would vote for the guy who salts the fries at McDonald's before they would vote for President Biden, and the White House knows this, so they're scared to alienate the not insubstantial, Hamas wing of the Democratic Party.
[…]
What you allow is what will continue. If you allow… these jackwagons on the college campuses to continue to do what they're doing, they're going to continue to do what they're doing.
The College Democrats of America have stated their support for the anti-Israeli protestors.
As if to underscore the Administration’s cluelessness and incompetence, the Department of Education called a high-level conference on antisemitism on Friday, only notifying participants at the last moment that far-left groups that supported the campus protests had been invited to participate. The Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federation of North America, Hillel International, the Orthodox Union, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations withdrew, as they should have. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, White House domestic adviser Neera Tanden, and other senior officials who were representing Biden in this “outreach” are responsible for this perfectly predictable public-relations pratfall.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/05/camps_intifada_students_for_theocratic_authoritarianism.html
Majoring in Jihad
By J.B. Shurk
Biden Isn’t Joking, and Fetterman Wins a New Hashtag
When will Hollywood ever learn that the Midwest is not under its influence?
by Sarah Cowgill | May 5, 2024
President Joe Biden lit another dumpster fire by calling two allies “xenophobic,” and another Hollyweird actor alienated the entire Midwest by claiming he knew how heartlanders think politically. The use of force in voter identification had Americans saying, “how ironic.” And, love him or hate him, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is making more sense than ever.
Biden Vision Quest Dimly Lit
If the president isn’t making up stories about Corn Pop, Uncle Bosey and the dreaded New Guinea Cannibals, or his blue-collar stint as an over-the-road trucker, he’s busy hurling insults at random voters or world leaders. Biden doesn’t seem to read his audience very well before throwing one of his signature temper tantrums. Instead, as has become his custom, the president just lets something harmful fly without reflection and leaves his aides scrambling to clean up the mess. Unfortunately for him, his trusted staff is no better at delivering the necessary explanations.
On the very first day of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, at a fundraiser, Joe delivered these remarks: “Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants.”
The fundraiser was hosted by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, among other notables. It took a widely inappropriate turn with Biden’s remarks; it was probably embarrassing to Duckworth and Tai, but it was also a tragic move for ally diplomacy.
The Japanese Embassy issued a mild rebuke:
“It is unfortunate that some of the comments were not based on an accurate understanding of Japan’s policies. We have raised this point to the US government and explained Japan’s positions and policies once again.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was handed the mop, but she only made it worse: “Look, he, I think he was – look, the president was very clear. I think that …” and her one-sentence rambling explanation was interrupted when a reporter stated: “He wasn’t very clear. That is why we are asking you.”
KJP tried to rally, bless her heart, with another version: “I’m explaining what he was talking about and how he was – what he was focusing on in those comments – country of immigrants, it makes us stronger, and it is important to be very clear about that. And the president’s always going to be really clear on speaking on issues that matter to the American people.”
“I’m surprised she didn’t blame Trump and then say no more questions, which is her usual response,” wrote Phil Paulson of Milwaukee. But perhaps Bernie Taylor was coming to her defense when he pointed out: “Listening to Biden is like trying to understand Ozzy [Osbourne] recite old McDonald had a farm.”
Tone Deaf Daniels
Another actor has come forward in the waning days of his career to irritate heartlanders and flyover folks with political commentary. In an appearance on a big box media cable show, Jeff Daniels claimed he knew how middle America felt about the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
“He’s a bad Willy Loman. It’s the fraud. It’s the emperor has clothes, we get that. I’m not talking about the people on the right, MAGA, they’re going to go. People on the left are there, but it’s the people in the middle, in the middle of the country, not the Hollywood liberals. It’s the Midwestern independents who are sitting there listening.”
“I know this is costing him where I live in Michigan. This is costing him votes,” Daniels added. “I know Republicans who went with Trump to get their tax cuts and then maybe it’s DeSantis, and then it was Nikki Haley, and now they’re throwing up their hands. What everybody wants is decency. They want respect again.”
Mike Patrick, of Fulton, MO, gave him a nod, saying: “He should know about Midwesterners. On his flights between the east coast and west coast, he flies over them all the time.”
In Monroe, NC, John Simpson could not resist: “Dang, and all this time I just thought he was playing a part in Dumb & Dumber…never would’ve thought he was just being himself!” Daniels was once asked how he played the part of Harry Dunne in the cult classic, and he replied: “Don’t act dumb. Be dumb.” Daniels continued, “I determined that he had an IQ of 8.” It seems some Midwesterners likely now believe that’s true.
Wesley Bond in Davison, MI, gave a serious retort: “Wrong, we are sick of the current administration’s anti-American policies, open borders, and support for ‘woke.’” But Nick Karavalos in Champaign, IL, brought us back: “That is the most tone-deaf statement in the history of stuuuupid statements.”
“Can’t Find a Betterman”
On Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill banning lab-grown meat in the Sunshine State. The governor released a statement saying Florida is: “fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals. Our administration will continue to focus on investing in our local farmers and ranchers, and we will save our beef.”
As global elite Bill Gates put it, “I do think all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef. You can get used to the taste difference, and the claim is they’re going to make it taste even better over time. Eventually, that green premium is modest enough that you can sort of change the [behavior of] people or use regulation to totally shift the demand.”
Oh, Hell no. That’s just creepy – and Sen. John Fetterman agrees. “Pains me deeply to agree with Crash-and-Burn Ron, but I co-sign this,” he posted on X. “As a member of @SenateAgDems and as some dude who would never serve that slop to my kids, I stand with our American ranchers and farmers.”
A few flyover folks advised the man to get a bodyguard. In Gray, TN, Ron Wise was concerned: “I see a Russian collusion charge in his future.” Another conservative, Ron Thompsen of Crescent City, IL, applauded the man, saying: “When he was running for office, there was almost nobody that thought he would do well, and I was one of them being from the other side of the aisle. Since he has been serving in the Senate, he is standing up for the citizens, not only from PA but for the common people of the USA.” He went even further: “Thanks, Senator Fetterman.”
“He just keeps getting better and better,” mused Debbie Ritz Stricker in Queen Creek, AZ, “he has more brains than the whole D party.”
And just like that, a new hashtag was created: #Betterman.
“Stinkin’ Badges”
Former UK Prime Minister Boris ‘BoJo’ Johnson learned firsthand that some of his enacted policies are working quite well for the constituency. He was turned away at a polling station on Thursday, May 2, because he did not have acceptable photo identification and fell short of the rules his government instituted just two years past.
In Cedar Rapids, IA, Dustin Smith had a dream: “Good. The rules are being enforced. Not like in the USA where it seems to be rules for thee but not for me.”
https://www.libertynation.com/biden-isnt-joking-and-fetterman-wins-a-new-hashtag/
College Protesters: Who are they?
American youth, professional agitators, international students, or all of the above.
by Leesa K. Donner | May 5, 2024
It’s a bird; it’s a plane – no, it’s super-protester! On college campuses from coast to coast, civil unrest is taking place at an alarming rate. But don’t ask the rabble to identify themselves; these protesters are loud, but they don’t appear to be proud. There is an obvious reason for protesting in disguise: fear of reprisal.
Increasingly pro-Palestinian agitators are donning keffiyehs and surgical masks before heading out the door with their pre-printed placards looking to all the world like a mob of mini-Yasser Arafats. The only problem is that those protesting have probably never even heard of the famed Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) chairman. However, their lack of knowledge doesn’t prevent them from getting on a soap box and scaring the bejesus out of Jewish students, or worse.
Today’s protesters want to be heard but not identified, so they cover their faces, thinking it will protect them from being held accountable. This need to conceal suggests a desire to “protect their anonymity even as they demand universities and governments be held to account,” and that’s coming from The New York Times, of all places.
To ascertain who is up to no good on campus, one might want to reflect on the makeup of the student body. Today’s college campuses look nothing like those of days gone by. They are jam-packed with international students, leaving many Americans questioning whether some foreign students came here to get an education or if their intent is more sinister – perhaps for such a time as this.
According to Statista, there are more than 15 thousand students across the nation from Saudi Arabia, another ten thousand from Iran, over eight thousand from Turkey, and you don’t want to know the number from China – but that’s a whole other kettle of fish. “In 2022/23, there were 467,027 international graduate students, which accounted for over one-third of the international students in the country,” according to Statista. That means there are approximately 1.5 million students who hail from other countries. Oh yes, 21st-century college campuses are very diverse places indeed. There are no statistics, however, to tell us how many came here for an education and how many came to agitate. College protesters want to engage in free speech – but they don’t want their visas revoked.
Fear of reprisal extends to more than just taking away a young international student’s visa and shipping them back home. There’s a fear of online doxing, resume or career damage, and more. Why would they care about such things? Surveys show that 73% of all international students don’t want to get their diploma and go home; they want to stay here. More than one-third, 38%, “would like to live in the U.S. long-term, for four years or longer,” according to a FWD.us survey.
College Protesters: Peek-a-Boo
Anyone who’s ever watched a Denzel Washington movie knows that no one is truly anonymous these days, no matter where they are on Earth. In the age of the internet, a mask and head scarf are not going to do the trick. With an abundance of surveillance cameras and facial recognition software, the technology is way ahead of the angry mobs. Ultimately, scarves and masks will not protect the protesters from identification because facial recognition also includes retinal scans. After all, protesters still need to see. And unlike the 1960s and ’70s, AI and ultra hi-definition video allow for identification of almost anyone through even a partially exposed face. As Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary told Fox News, future job prospects for these protesters may well be irreparably damaged: “When you break the law of the land, you become a criminal. If you think wearing a mask or sunglasses is going to protect you, it doesn’t.”
The constitutionality of invasive identification technology is dicey, and some states have laws that prevent using facial recognition software on people engaged in “constitutionally protected activities,” according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. In 2021, the Sentinel won a Pulitzer Prize for its story, “South Florida Police Quietly Ran Facial Recognition Scans to Identify Peaceful Protesters. Is That Legal?”
The Sunshine State uses software cleverly named FACES, which stands for Face Analysis Comparison & Examination System, a tool that has been around since 2001 and is also used by federal law enforcement. During the George Floyd/Black Lives Matter protests, Florida law enforcement put FACES in action, as the Sun Sentinel reports:
“Behind the scenes, however, police photographed protesters. And they ran protest-related images through a vast and unregulated facial recognition database, records show. That’s like going through a crowd and inspecting people’s driver’s licenses, which would almost certainly be prohibited as an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment.”
While the constitutionality of all this is being worked out, (and will likely end up at the US Supreme Court) college protests – which in many cases are on private property – continue apace.
This brings us back to the question of who all these protesters are. The reality is that it may take a bit more time, but it’s not all that difficult to find out. The campus unrest of today may be compared to 1968, but there are contrasts – this type of identity software is perhaps the most significant change. Like it or not, technology may have a profound influence over whether the individuals taking part in the anti-Semitic protests will eventually be unmasked.
https://www.libertynation.com/college-protesters-who-are-they/
Manchin Gets Rolled Again With New Permitting Streamlining Measures
Gee, anyone else not surprised?...........al
David Blackmon
May 05, 2024
In case you missed it, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) rolled out measures designed to streamline permitting for energy projects last week. You might think that would make Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) happy given that he surrendered every bit of political leverage he formerly possessed in August, 2022 to become the deciding vote to pass the Orwellian Inflation Reduction Act based on the promise from Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi they would help him pass a bill to speed up such permitting.
But the folks at the Institute for Energy Research (IER) describe Manchin as being “livid” about the new permitting rules. Why? Oh, you know what’s coming, don’t you? Of course you do.
The reason for Manchin’s latest fit of pique is simple: CEQ’s new rules will apply only to energy projects helping the Democrat party’s rent-seeking client industries - wind, solar, and stationary batteries.
Here’s an excerpt from IER’s excellent analysis on the matter:
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) finalized a rule changing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to streamline permitting for infrastructure for renewable energy and transmission projects. NEPA, a 1969 law that requires environmental reviews for major projects, is a frequent focus of litigation that can delay construction for years. According to Biden’s CEQ, the Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule will facilitate agencies moving faster on permits for infrastructure that can help the environment, thus ruling out fossil fuel projects which supply about 80 percent of the nation’s total energy. The rule sets deadlines and page limits for environmental reviews and establishes one lead agency to handle such reviews.
As part of the rule’s review process, climate impacts have to be considered as well as environmental justice — the movement to assist disadvantaged areas — and outreach to those places must be conducted. Biden’s regulation also reverses parts of the 2020 NEPA rule changes, implemented by the Trump administration, that opponents argued made it more difficult for communities to engage in the environmental review process and “attempted to curtail judicial review” of permitting decisions.
Past attempts to provide streamlining of NEPA have been met with outrage and hyperbole from environmental groups, including groups accusing legislative initiatives of “gutting” NEPA and “dismantling” the Act. Apparently because the CEQ changes support the politically correct renewable energy for which these groups advocate, as well as the new transmission these sources require, the groups have not waged their normal campaigns against the reforms.
According to the CEQ, the new rule “fully implements” new permitting efficiencies the administration and Congress agreed to last summer when Congress passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act to raise the federal debt ceiling, including “setting clear deadlines for agencies to complete environmental reviews, requiring a lead agency and setting specific expectations for lead and cooperating agencies, and creating a unified and coordinated federal review process.”
According to some members of Congress, however, the final rule reneges on the debt ceiling deal, and they believe that it will extend—not reduce—the time it takes to get traditional energy infrastructure projects, like oil and gas pipelines, built. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, in particular, said the White House “disregarded” the deal, “corrupting it with their own radical agenda.” He vowed to lead a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval “to get back to the deal that they cut with Congress and signed into law.” According to Republican state attorneys general, it constitutes “a dramatic example of federal and administrative overreach.”
[End]
So, once again, Joe Manchin, having surrendered every bit of political leverage he once possessed in a deal with the Devil (Schumer and Pelosi) finds himself getting rolled by the people to whom he surrendered.
Seriously: Is there anyone other than Manchin who didn’t see this all coming once he had given the Devil what he was after?
That is all.
https://blackmon.substack.com/p/manchin-gets-rolled-again-with-new?publication_id=712558&post_id=144328864&isFreemail=false&r=rd9j8&triedRedirect=true
TRAGEDY: AOC Announces She Was Killed During NYPD Raid At Columbia And Is Dead Again
NEW YORK — Congressional Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was tragically killed Tuesday night during a police raid at Columbia University in which hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested.
"They came at me with tear gas and racism," Ocasio-Cortez told reporters. "I am now literally dead."
According to sources, Ocasio-Cortez was in Washington, D.C. at the time.
"They kept shouting, 'Where is she!? Where is she!? I need to kill her with guns!'" she continued. "I hid under a table, but wood can't protect you from the Jew police state."
Experts confirm that if Israel were not trying to defend itself from attacks from Hamas, protestors would never have taken over Columbia University, the police would never have raided the campus, and Ocasio-Cortez would still be alive. The New York representative is now reportedly seeing a psychotherapist to help her cope with her own death.
Ocasio-Cortez is survived by her fiancé Riley Roberts and a French bulldog named Deco.
https://babylonbee.com/news/tragedy-aoc-announces-she-was-killed-during-nypd-raid-at-columbia-and-is-dead-once-again
New Study Finds Most Effective Treatment For Depression Watching Scrawny Libs Get Absolutely Manhandled By Police
U.S. — Advancements in ways to counter anxiety about the state of the country had experts encouraged, as a new study found the most effective treatment for depression to be watching scrawny libs getting absolutely manhandled by police.
The study, conducted over the past week by a conglomerate of socio-scientific experts, showed that seeing video footage of weak soy-boys and purple-hairs being tossed around haphazardly like sacks of old potatoes had a significantly positive impact on viewers who suffered from depressive thoughts.
"It's a remarkable breakthrough for anyone feeling down," said Dr. Blake Rumsey of the Center for Acquiring Knowledge. "We put the theory to the test with a group of people who were gravely concerned about the current state of affairs around the world. As soon as they spent some time watching law enforcement yeeting some noodle-armed college students around the quad, the test subjects felt much better."
One test subject, who asked to remain anonymous, testified to the treatment's efficacy. "It's true, I feel so much happier now," he said. "I had been feeling pretty depressed lately with all the unrest and protests and conflict everywhere you look. But as soon as I saw a police officer completely break some whiny co-ed in half with a textbook shoulder tackle, those sad feelings went away."
At publishing time, researchers were eager to test their theory further as universities across the country brought in law enforcement to deal with spoiled, unruly college liberals who were causing trouble on campuses.
https://babylonbee.com/news/new-study-finds-most-effective-treatment-for-depression-watching-scrawny-libs-get-absolutely-manhandled-by-police
The Market Does Not Care About Joe Biden's Green Dreams
David Blackmon
May 04, 2024
For two years now, I and others have been pointing out the reality that there is no real “energy transition” happening around the world. Two new items of information came to light this week that irrevocably prove the point.
It is true that governments across the western world appear to be working to bankrupt their countries by pouring trillions of debt-funded dollars, Euros and British pounds into central planning efforts to subsidize renewables and electric vehicles into existence. That reality cannot be denied. The trouble is that no amount of debt money can turn the markets and the markets aren’t cooperating.
Despite all the government largesse that has spurred major additions of wind and solar generation capacity, those weather-reliant energy sources can’t even keep up with the pace of rising demand for electricity. As a result, the markets dictated that the world consumed record levels of coal, natural gas, oil and even wood during 2023. Yes, we are still burning vast amounts of wood for electricity, despite an alleged “transition” from wood to coal which began 500 years ago.
That is reality, dictated by the markets.
Two new bits of data came to light this week that pound the final nails into the coffin of the narrative around the energy transition. A report in the Financial Times, citing data compiled by Grid Strategies, reveals that the buildout of new high-voltage transmission lines in the United States slowed to a trickle in 2023, with just 55.5 additional miles installed. That collapse comes despite the Biden government’s recognition that a massive expansion of this type of transmission lines must happen to accommodate the demands of any true “transition” to renewables.
The Financial Times quotes a 2023 assessment by the Department of Energy that found that “regional transmission must more than double and interregional transmission must grow more than fivefold by 2035 to meet decarbonization targets.” DOE admits such a pace would add more than 50,000 miles of new transmission in just 11 years, which is almost 1,000 times the pace of adds during 2023. Yikes.
A crucial aspect of that DOE study to understand is that it was conducted before we began to understand the true magnitude of additional power demands that will result from the explosive growth of AI technology just now starting to come to full bloom. It was just this past January, at the WEF Forum in Davos, where OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told the audience he believes generation capacity on the grid will have to double over the next decade just to fill the AI demands alone. That is what is needed in addition to the rising demands for EV charging, industrial growth, population growth and economic growth.
The second piece of compelling data arising this week comes from a Bloomberg story headlined, “Data Centers Now Need a Reactor’s Worth of Power, Dominion Says.” The key thing to understand about this story is that the piece is only referencing the needs of planned new data centers being built in Northern Virginia to feed AI development in that tiny sliver of the United States.
This key excerpt from the story says it all: “Over the past five years, Dominion has connected 94 data centers that, together, consume about four gigawatts of electricity, Blue said. That means that just two or three of the data center campuses now being planned could require as much electricity as all the centers Dominion hooked up since about 2019.”
That is not just rapid growth, it is exponential growth in power demand from a single developing technology.
Demand growth needs such as this aren’t going to be filled by unpredictable, unreliable, weather-dependent generation like windmills and solar arrays. And let’s face it: The United States is not going to be able to continue expanding renewables without finding some way to create a massive expansion of transmission. Why build the generation if you can’t move the electricity?
What it all means is that all the grand Biden Green New Deal plans to shut down America’s remaining coal fleet and much of its natural gas generation fleet are going to have to wait, because the market will not allow them. That’s reality, and reality does not care about anyone’s green transition dreams.
That is all.
https://blackmon.substack.com/p/the-market-does-not-care-about-joe?publication_id=712558&post_id=144305702&isFreemail=false&r=rd9j8&triedRedirect=true