Republican News

This post was originally published on this site

It’s not just aid that Biden is withholding from Israel, but specific precision weapons that among other things reduce civilian casualties. 

It’s an escalation in Biden’s war on Israel’s mission to eliminate Hamas, presumably to satisfy his pro-Hamas base. 

They impeached Trump for this. https://t.co/3RL6ycH5nZ

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) May 7, 2024

Biden is trying to walk a tightrope–satisfying his conventional elite base who are becoming more and more appalled at what is happening on campuses and the explosion of antisemitism, while trying to mollify the students who make up a good chunk of the Democrat ground troops. 

It’s a pathetic attempt, but there it is. Biden needs both camps to win this November, and he is willing to sacrifice Israelis in the process. 

The Biden administration is holding up shipments of two types of Boeing-made precision bombs to send a political message to Israel, according to a U.S. official and six other people with knowledge of the deliberations.

The U.S. has yet to sign off on a pending sale of Boeing’s Joint Direct Attack Munitions — both the munitions and kits that convert them to smart weapons — and Small Diameter Bombs, according to six industry and congressional sources with knowledge of the discussions.

While the Biden administration has not formally denied the potential sale, it is essentially taking action through inaction — holding off on approvals and other aspects of the weapons transfer process — to send a message to Israel, a U.S. administration official familiar with the process told POLITICO. The official, along with others, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.

This appears to be the first time the U.S. administration has delayed a potential weapons sale for Israel since Hamas attacked the country on Oct. 7. President Joe Biden has been under pressure from some in his party to set conditions on aid to Israel after the Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza began to exact a heavy toll on civilians, and after Israel hit humanitarian convoys delivering aid to the enclave.

To put that last bit in context, one of Biden’s final acts in his shameful exit from Afghanistan was to target an aid worker, killing him and his children. Not a single person was punished for that, while Israel relieved the military officials who mistakenly targeted the aid workers. 

Also, not mentioned was the fact that Hamas is shelling relief workers and the US troops building a pier to bring in relief aid. Biden is rewarding Hamas for those actions, which I suppose is very on-brand for the man who ships cash to Iran. 

The munitions were ready to be shipped to Israel when word of the hold came down, said one senior congressional aide and two other people familiar with the incident. A third person, an industry official, said the administration told Boeing to halt the shipment since the approval was held up for “political reasons,” and not because of supply chain strain.

Another congressional aide said the case — categorized as a direct commercial sale between Israel and the contractor that requires sign-off from the administration — is being “held up.”

Hamas is offering to ship the corpses of hostages they killed in exchange for a cessation of the war, and this atrocity is being sold to us as a cease-fire proposal. 

All this is happening while Biden is mouthing, not meaning, “never again.”

Israel has begun its Rafah operation, which should have been wrapped up by now but for all the pressure put on Israel. Extending the war puts both civilians in Gaza and Israeli troops at risk, as it gave Hamas more time to dig in and terrorize civilians. Civilians they have been killing to steal the aid being shipped in. 

Hamas executed 3 Gaza civilians for stealing humanitarian aid before they could.

Are you still Hamas over there at Columbia? pic.twitter.com/uFFMvJD1mj

— The Mossad: Satirical, Yet Awesome (@TheMossadIL) May 7, 2024

Biden is undoubtedly not so much pro-Hamas as profoundly venal and stupid. As Bob Gates famously said, Joe Biden has not once in his career been right on a foreign policy issue. 

He is still batting a thousand. 

This post was originally published on this site

The House is holding a hearing about anti-Semitism in K-12 schools tomorrow. In advance of that there are a couple of reports about what has been going on in some progressive school districts in New York and California. New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks will be at the hearing tomorrow. Parents are hoping he’ll be pushed to step up.

“We hope the hearing will hold Banks accountable and drive him to become the leader that Jewish students and families need,” said Tova Plaut, founder of NYCPS Alliance, an advocacy group of parents, educators and community members that has been vocal about the issue of antisemitism in city schools.

“I want to hear from Chancellor David Banks that he truly understands that some of the schools he runs are actively inhospitable to Jewish students and staff and it is his responsibility to address the cultural safety concerns,” added Maud Maron, a Manhattan mom and member of the Community Education Council District 2.

There have been a number of incidents at NYC schools including a riot that broke out at Hillcrest High School when students learned that one of the teachers there had attended a pro-Israel rally.

The scene at Hillcrest High School in Queens as a Jewish teacher hid in her locked office for hours while students demanded she be fired for attending a pro-Israel rally. pic.twitter.com/jzVCEofvJS

— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) November 25, 2023

The teacher in question had to be rushed into a locked office for her protection. The situation was just as bad at Origins High School where a Jewish teacher was terrorized by students.

On Oct. 26, just three weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre of 1,200 Israelis, 40 to 50 teens marched through Origins HS in Sheepshead Bay waving a Palestinian flag and chanting “Death to Israel!” and “Kill the Jews!” staffers said…

According to interviews with multiple staffers, and a Jewish student’s safety transfer request, recent hate incidents include:

• A student painted a mustache on his face to look like Hitler, and banged on classroom doors. When someone opened, he clicked his heels and raised his arm in the Nazi gesture, security footage shows.
• Three swastikas in one week were drawn on teachers’ walls and other objects, a manager found.
• A 10th-grader told Kaminsky, 33, who is Jewish, “I wish you were killed.”
• Another student called her “a dirty Jew” and said he wished Hitler could have “hit more Jews,” including her.
• Students pasted drawings of the Palestinian flag and notes saying “Free Palestine” on Kaminsky’s classroom door. One scribbled note that said simply, “Die.”…

About 40% of Origins students are Muslim. DOE stats list 22% as Asian, 22% Black, 17% Hispanic and 32% white.

The NY Times has a story today about  a battle taking place inside Berkeley’s public schools between pro-Palestinian teachers and parents and pro-Israel parents. The controversy started with a walkout organized by the Arab Resource and Organizing Center.

On Oct. 18, hundreds of Berkeley High School students, with the blessing of some of their teachers, left their classrooms in the middle of the day and gathered at a nearby park.

“Free Palestine!” they chanted. “Stop bombing Gaza!”

“From the river to the sea!”…

Some Jewish students, and their self-described Zionist parents, felt frightened by what they saw and heard, including a vulgar shout about Zionism — a claim vigorously denied by demonstrators.

The Brandeis Center and the ADL sent a lengthy letter to the US Dept. of Education highlighting what has been happening at Berkeley USD since 10/7.

Reported incidents of anti-Semitism include school “walkouts” praising Hamas with students shouting “f– the Jews” and “KKK.” Teachers use class time to propagandize that the Hamas massacre was admirable “resistance.” Following their teachers’ lead, students bully their Jewish peers and deride their physical appearance.  Parents regularly report anti-Semitic incidents affecting their children to the administration, but BUSD has done nothing to address, much less curtail, the hostile environment that has plagued BUSD for over four months. At most, misguided administrators have attempted to “resolve” problems involving teachers by moving Jewish and Israeli students into new classes. As a result, anti-Semitism is normalized throughout BUSD. And teachers have responded with threats. One teacher approached a parent who had complained about her, saying…

I’d love to tell you what the teacher said but it’s redacted in the letter. In any case, the letter goes on to more or less identify two specific teachers who’ve been using their classrooms to push anti-Israel propaganda.

BHS art teacher…has spent significant class time imposing his anti-Semitic views on students by showing them violent pro-Hamas videos, projecting anti-Israel and anti-Semitic images during class, papering his classroom walls with these images, and promoting the October 18, 2023 Walkout for Palestine and organizing the February 2, 2024 demonstration. Following the October 7 massacre,  displayed violent and inflammatory materials in his classroom including a projection of an image of a fist holding a Palestinian flag and punching through a Star of David.

A history teacher was also singled out.

BHS History teacher…expresses anti-Semitic stereotypes and defamations in class. Since October 7th, Jewish and Israeli students have repeatedly made requests to transfer out of her class. The students often change classes, but  anti-Semitic conduct persists. Students in her class are particularly fearful of retaliation because she teaches 11th and 12th grades, and they are concerned that their complaints will impact college admissions.  Despite the fear of retaliation, Jewish and Israeli students still feel compelled to leave her class due to the anti-Semitic climate. For example,  recently called Israel an “apartheid state,” a common anti-Semitic defamation. She recently required her students to respond to the following prompt in class: “To what extent should Israel be considered an Apartheid State?” After showing a one-sided anti-Israel video,  said she could not find a video defending the Israeli side of the debate and that articles that opposed the apartheid narrative were “laughable.”

The NY Times identifies this teacher as Becky Villagran. She calls the complaints that her class is anti-Semitic ridiculous because she herself is Jewish.

“I’m Jewish, my mom is Jewish, I grew up Jewish,” Ms. Villagran says. “I’m not antisemitic. That makes no sense.”

She can deny it all she wants but students in her classroom know which way the wind is blowing.

As a homework assignment, [Villagran] asked Student F to identify her wishes for 2024. Student F said her greatest desire for 2024 was for Israel to defeat Hamas. She wrote this on the worksheet but did not feel comfortable turning it in, fearing how [Villigran] would react. Student F felt so unsafe in  class that she censored herself, hiding her identity, and stifling her honest expression. In the end, Student F was so distressed by the hostile environment in [Villigran’s] classroom and the failure of the school to take any action that her parents removed her from the school. 

We’ll probably be hearing more about these teachers tomorrow during the congressional hearing.

This post was originally published on this site

The Governor of New York thinks that Black kids don’t even know what a computer is. Never even heard the word. 

No, I am not kidding you. She said that and likely believes it. This is even a theme among Democrats who are so disconnected from the world you and I live in that they think this crap. 

https://t.co/H6UEGwVZgo

— Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) May 7, 2024

If you have ever wondered how a Democrat could believe some outlandish thing like “socialism works” or that “you can just print money to pay for things,” know this: they don’t live in this universe. They have invented one in which they are the only good guys, vast numbers of people need Democrats to tell them how to live, and anybody who disagrees with them is Hitler. 

Not quite Hitler, because Hitler was an evil genius. We are more like lobotomized Hitlers too stupid to understand things like The Science™ and that the Earth is literally burning. 

It’s not just her. That’s how all Democrats think. pic.twitter.com/yH0jZ6Ge1w

— Rapidsloth (@Rapidsloth_) May 7, 2024

Imagine living in a world where cartoon characters like Klaus Schwab are well-respected. One where telling people they should eat bugs instead of beef is a good idea. Or one where solar panels will replace nuclear reactors and natural gas plants. 

Or one in which sex is “assigned at birth” rather than determined by your genes and genitals. 

“Poor kids are just as smart as white kids.” pic.twitter.com/Vvxt2rQPYQ

— Thick Shelled Egg 🥚 (@ThickShelledEgg) May 7, 2024

One of the striking things about the liberals you see in power is that they are, to a great extent, stupid and disconnected from reality. That’s not to say that all liberals are stupid–far from it. There are tons of super-smart leftists who create the narratives that the MSM and the liberal politicians parrot. Barack Obama was smart, regardless of his other flaws. 

But think about it: Joe Biden has never been bright, now he has pudding for brains, and he is the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Kamala Harris is Vice President. Gretchen Whitmer is the governor of Michigan. Kathy Hochul is the governor of New York. Gavin Newsom is the governor of California. Maxine Waters is a top-ranking Democrat in Congress. AOC is a leader of the progressive wing. 

These people range from dimwits to midwits. How often are their handlers cringing when they hear them speak?

This is amazing, in that it demonstrates the word salad in her head.

And black kids in the Bronx do know what a computer is. But that’s not the real punchline. They aren’t going to use a government-funded supercomputer.

Bonkers. @IsaiahLCarter https://t.co/X5Y4eQlDmj

— Connection Doctor, Empathy Guru (@PezeshkiCharles) May 7, 2024

What binds them all together is a commitment to a narrative–one they need not understand. It is handed to them, and when they go off script, the dimwits utter nonsense like Hochul’s. 

Not that it matters, of course, because they own the cultural means of production in the MSM, and they bury the gaffes when they can. 

Imagine every Black Democrat being confronted by Hochul’s casual slurs against their intelligence. Surely if a Republican said something remotely close, it would be blasted on every TV for days or months. But the MSM and the Establishment just brush this under the rug and do cleanup on Aisle 3. 

In many ways, I would rather deal with the evil geniuses behind the dimwitted frontmen who know nothing about what the real world looks like or how it works. Hochul actually believes what she said there–there is no political benefit to uttering something so stupid and offensive. 

She simply has no clue at all. 

It would be less exhausting, for one thing. Arguing with stupid people is like wrestling with a pig: “Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.”

At least with the evil geniuses, you don’t have to explain to them that in 2024, everybody knows what a computer is, including toddlers. 

Even Black people in the Bronx. 

This post was originally published on this site

I don’t know if this will qualify as “the other shoe dropping” in Boeing’s ongoing problems, but the news certainly doesn’t sound great. The Federal Aviation Administration announced yesterday that they were opening an investigation into the company after Boeing reported that workers at its South Carolina production plant had falsified inspection records on some of its new 787 Dreamliner planes. The Dreamliner has already fallen behind its original production schedule and this sort of investigation isn’t likely to help them catch up. Also, the inspection records in question sound rather important, so people will probably need to go back and run the tests again on their completed aircraft. The head of the 787 production line said that the company is taking “swift and serious corrective action with multiple teammates.” (Associated Press)

The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it has opened an investigation into Boeing after the beleaguered company reported that workers at a South Carolina plant falsified inspection records on certain 787 planes. Boeing said its engineers have determined that misconduct did not create “an immediate safety of flight issue.”

In an email to Boeing’s South Carolina employees on April 29, Scott Stocker, who leads the 787 program, said a worker observed an “irregularity” in a required test of the wing-to-body join and reported it to his manager.

“After receiving the report, we quickly reviewed the matter and learned that several people had been violating Company policies by not performing a required test, but recording the work as having been completed,” Stocker wrote.

The test records under discussion involved an inspection of the joint between the wing and the main body of the aircraft. I’m not an aviation design expert, but that sounds like a pretty critical component of the design since it literally holds the wings onto the plane. Based on the description Boeing provided, the inspection wasn’t being done improperly. It wasn’t being done at all. The people responsible for performing the test were apparently just skipping it and signing off saying that it was completed successfully.

This allegation is in keeping with the reports from the whistleblowers (both of whom are now dead) who claimed that Boeing prioritized getting the planes out the door as quickly as possible. Production speed was allegedly more important to them than safety. Boeing has continually denied those allegations, saying that the errors that have shown up are rare exceptions and that they encourage all of their workers to report potential safety issues and resolve them. It’s a big company, so perhaps that’s true in some places. But it doesn’t match the stories coming from the whistleblowers.

We should probably at least give some credit to Boeing for reporting this issue to the FAA voluntarily before the information became public. Or, even worse, before a wing fell off of a plane. None of the planes have been pulled from service at this point, but the FAA is directing Boeing to immediately prepare a plan to conduct these inspections on planes that are already flying and to go back and run them again on the aircraft still working through the production process. As mentioned above, this will likely slow their delivery schedule further, but it’s better than the alternative.

In other, possibly unrelated news, the families of the victims of two Boeing crashes in 2018 and 2019 have requested that the Department of Justice reopen an investigation into those incidents. There were allegations of possible criminal fraud involved. But those crashes were determined to have been caused by a fault in the planes’ software systems that made them go into a dive unexpectedly in some circumstances. That problem has allegedly been resolved and we haven’t seen any reports of the error recurring lately.

Boeing relly needs to get all of this cleared up and put it behind them. If there are many more delays in the delivery of their planes, the major airlines will need to start scaling back the number of flights they offer (again). And the delays that passengers are facing at airports these days are already too long. But the safety issues must be addressed first.

This post was originally published on this site

American consumers love their fast food but price hikes are preventing them from enjoying a burger or burrito as often as in years past. 

Traffic to big fast food chains has dropped 3.5 percent in the first three months of 2024, compared to 2023. McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Popeyes, Pizza Hut, and Chipotle have likely sold millions fewer burgers, pizzas and burritos. 

Fast food consumers are complaining on social media about the high prices, as one recent story about a $17.59 Big Mac meal at a McDonald’s in Connecticut proved. 

Figures from the US Labor Department show fast-food prices are 33 percent more expensive than they were in 2019. By comparison, grocery costs are up just 26 percent while the overall Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 19 percent in that time.

Are the price hikes caused by ‘greedflation’? Fast food chains are accused of hiking prices more than necessary by blaming inflation. FinanceBuzz has analyzed the price hikes. According to the analysis, McDonald’s menu prices have doubled since 2014. 

FinanceBuzz collected pricing data for a dozen different chain restaurants over the last decade. We then calculated how much prices have risen in that timeframe and compared it to the overall inflation rate in the same period.

Here are the key findings: 

• From 2014 to 2024, average menu prices have risen between 39% and 100% — all increases that outpace inflation during the given time period (31%).
• McDonald’s menu prices have doubled (100% increase) since 2014 across popular items — the highest of any chain we analyzed.
• Popeyes follows McDonald’s with an 86% increase, and Taco Bell is third at +81%.
• Menu prices at Subway and Starbucks have risen by “just” 39% since 2014 — the lowest among chains we studied. These are also the only restaurants where prices have risen by less than 50%.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the cost of goods has risen 31% since 2014. This means that $100 in 2014 dollars is worth $131 in 2024 dollars. Most change has happened over the last five years. Inflation is up 22% since 2019.

The restaurants in the study raised prices by 60% between 2014 and 2024. That rate is nearly double the national rate of inflation. 

Five different restaurants — McDonald’s, Popeyes, Taco Bell, Chipotle, and Jimmy John’s — raised their prices at more than double the actual inflation rate. McDonald’s raised prices so much that their average menu prices increased more than three times the national rate of inflation.

Consumers are not lovin’ it. 

Some chains are bucking the trend and keeping prices the same. One example is Domino’s. It has kept its national mix-and-match deal priced at $6.99 since 2022. CEO Russell Weiner said, ‘Customers just don’t want surprises.’

The situation has accelerated in California, thanks to a new $ 20-an-hour minimum wage for fast food workers. The predictable happened – management at  McDonald’s, Wingstop, Jack in the Box, and Chipotle announced that the higher labor costs would be passed on to customers. 

The chains have gotten the message. Starbucks, for example, posted its weakest performance outside of the pandemic or Great Recession. When customers go elsewhere instead of paying higher prices, it gets management’s attention. There are plenty of options in most places. Go where your business is appreciated. 

Many fast-food chains described a gloomy outlook. Wendy’s CFO Gunther Plosch told investors on Thursday that consumers are “still under pressure” — especially those with household incomes under $75,000. “They are reducing frequency, so visitation is down.”

Chains raised prices drastically during the pandemic to offset rising labor and food costs, and it’s coming back to bite them. Some diners are cutting back, saying that fast food is just too expensive and no longer represents good value.

McDonald’s CFO Ian Borden told investors that consumers were “price weary” and “certainly” dining out less often. Joshua Kobza, the CEO of RBI, which owns brands including Burger King and Popeyes, told analysts that diners had become “a bit more sensitive to price.”

In Biden’s America, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Families are finding it difficult to make ends meet. Fast food is a luxury, not a necessity. 

Some chains are promising to keep price increases low this year. 

“We’re going to stay careful on pricing,” Plosch, the Wendy’s CFO, said. “We are expecting low-single digit pricing that the system is going to execute this year. I don’t think we’re going to get too greedy.”

McDonald’s would “certainly” be “prudent and thoughtful” about any further price increases in the rest of 2024, Borden said.

Shake Shack went one step further. CFO Katie Fogertey told investors on Thursday that the chain, which has raised prices by in the mid-single digits this year, had no further increases planned for 2024.

We’ll see if they keep their promises. Otherwise, they will continue to face the consequences. 

This post was originally published on this site

The Providence Foundation of San Francisco is one of many groups that receives money from the city to help it deal with homelessness. Yesterday the Providence Foundation was accused of fraudulently billing the city for more than $100,000 and barred from applying for city funds for five years in the future.

The false invoices, according to the City Attorney’s Office, were submitted in 2022 and linked to an exterior paint job and the removal of deadbolts at the Oasis Hotel, a family shelter on Franklin Street that was at one point under threat of closure. But investigators said the work never occurred.

“There’s a difference between having challenges with financial compliance and intentionally defrauding the City and its taxpayers,” said City Attorney David Chiu in a statement on Monday. “This nonprofit took over $100,000 of public money meant to benefit people experiencing homelessness. That cannot be tolerated.”

Billing the city for work it never performed was just the start. The organization also violated a rule against nepotism.

Providence is also accused of violating an anti-nepotism provision in its grant agreement with the city involving several hires. Chiu’s office said the company hired two of the executive director’s children and hired a child of the group’s vice president of the Board of Directors.

The person in charge of Providence is Patricia Doyle. She has been through all of this before.

Patricia Doyle, executive director of the Providence Foundation of San Francisco, was flagged by city officials more than a decade ago after they found the previous nonprofit she ran overspent its contract budgets and billed the city for credit card purchases without supporting documentation. That nonprofit, the Inter-City Family Support and Resource Network, was denied a city contract renewal due to “a substantial degree of fiscal mismanagement,” according to records obtained by the Chronicle. Now Doyle’s Providence Foundation is accused by the city of similar patterns of mismanagement…

“Someone at the city should have raised a red flag when they became aware that she (Doyle) was at the Providence Foundation,” said David Brown, an accountant who previously worked with Doyle. “She’s doing the same things she was doing back then.”…

Emily Cohen, a spokesperson for the city’s homelessness department, did not answer questions regarding the matter, including whether the department was aware of Doyle’s previous problems. Cohen said in a statement that the situation was “under investigation” and “HSH cannot currently comment.”

The city was aware that Providence was not managing its funds or its property well and has been trying to get it back in compliance for at least a year. 

The Providence Foundation is the nonprofit philanthropic arm of Providence Baptist Church, a fixture of the city’s historically Black Bayview-Hunters Point community for more than six decades…

The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing sent a series of “correction action” letters to Providence over the past year instructing it to address myriad deficiencies.

Those issues include overspending city contracts by hundreds of thousands of dollars, hiring for positions not approved in the budget, failing to maintain compliance with federal and state contracting requirements, and allowing beds at a family shelter to sit empty…

Providence leaders have repeatedly shown up late or skipped meetings and failed to provide critical information and paperwork to the city on time, according to corrective letters obtained through a public records request.

Finally, this is just one example of problems the city has recently uncovered with its homelessness contractors.

Over the past six months, city officials have accused leaders of the nonprofit J&J Community Resource Center of forging invoices and double billing and alleged that the head of the public-safety-focused nonprofit, SF Safe, misspent hundreds of thousands of dollars on expenses such as private limo services, a trip to Lake Tahoe and luxury gift boxes. City officials also notified the FBI that another nonprofit, the United Council of Human Services, improperly collected rent and stood by when access to housing was illegally sold to residents.

San Francisco spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year on homelessness contractors like these. Whenever the government is giving away that kind of money, fraud is inevitable. Frankly, the $100,000 this group bilked the city is petty cash in the overall scope of the homeless industrial complex in San Francisco. All of these people and groups have a vested interest in having this problem continue.

That said, the city has made some changes recently which seems to have cleared up some of the tent encampments. The number is now about half of what it was last summer. But as you’ll see in this report, even if there are fewer tents, a lot of local residents don’t see a big overall change in the state of the city’s sidewalks which are still full of homeless people and their stuff.

This post was originally published on this site

If you’ve been hoping for a solution to the spreading antisemitic protests on college campuses, help may be on the way. This is what’s known as hitting them where it hurts. More than a dozen federal judges sent a notification to Columbia University Law School yesterday informing them that they will not be accepting applications from any of their graduates to be law clerks starting with the class of 2024. The judges were led by jurists from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The letter was addressed directly to Columbia President Minouche Shafik. They are not limiting the boycott to only the students taking part in the riots, but the entire graduating class. (Free Beacon)

Thirteen federal judges said Monday that they would no longer hire law clerks from Columbia College or Columbia Law School after the university allowed an encampment on its lawn to spiral into a destructive occupation of a campus building. The judges cited the “explosion of student disruptions” and the “virulent spread of antisemitism” at Columbia, which has now canceled its main graduation ceremony because of the unrest.

Led by Fifth Circuit appellate judges James Ho and Elizabeth Branch, who spearheaded a clerkship boycott of Yale Law School in 2022 and Stanford Law School in 2023, as well as by Matthew Solomson on the U.S Court of Federal Claims, the judges wrote in a letter to Columbia president Minouche Shafik that they would no longer hire “anyone who joins the Columbia University community—whether as undergraduates or as law students—beginning with the entering class of 2024.”

Few law school graduates go directly into private practice or prominent positions at major firms immediately after finishing school. Many take positions as clerks with established judges where they can gain real-world experience and begin building a network of contacts that will help them later in their careers. This boycott doesn’t involve every judge in the nation, but it takes a significant bite out of the potential job pool. Other judges may follow suit if the protests continue.

This may be what it takes to motivate the administrations of these schools to take action. Who is going to pay that much money for a law degree if there is a significant risk that they will wind up with a job flipping burgers as they struggle to pay off hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans? Applying the boycott to the entire school elevates the threat so it doesn’t just apply to the protesters. Columbia will have to reconsider its position if it wants to keep attracting the best applicants. 

We’ve already seen employers in other professions aside from law firms cutting off donations to their schools and suggesting that any new applicants who graduated from a university where these riots are taking place would have their job applications moved to the circular file. The rioters keep taking to the streets because they have faced no repercussions for their actions. They are part of the “give us everything for free” generation. But now it appears that the Gaza chickens are coming home to roost.

If the protesters wish to keep up with this hateful nonsense, that’s entirely up to them. They shouldn’t have to worry too much. I’m sure they should be able to land fine jobs as attorneys in Gaza working for Hamas. Of course, with the tunnels all being flooded, office space may be tough to come by. Just be sure to show up with some facial jewelry and an LGBTQ flag shirt. There aren’t nearly as many tall buildings left standing for them to throw you off of. 

This post was originally published on this site

Democrats want to flip the script on immigration. Immigration and border security is a top issue for voters this cycle.

President Biden is desperate to win re-election in November. So far, that isn’t looking good for him. Even with politicizing the DOJ against his political opponents, specifically Donald Trump, public opinion is against him. Biden’s approval is underwater in the polls on the top issues. Trump leads by double digits, especially on immigration, border security, and the economy. 

Democrats are planning to take the issue of immigration and turn it back on Republicans. The plan is to trash Republicans who voted against the so-called border security legislation brought forward by Republican Senator James Lankford and two Democrats, Senator Chris Murphy and Kyrsten Sinema. Senate Democrats will try to convince voters that Republicans call the open border an emergency but will not vote to do anything about it. 

Conservatives objected to the Senate bill on the border mainly because it allowed for up to 5,000 illegal immigrants a day to cross the border before the border would be closed. The goal of any illegal immigration bill should be zero illegal immigrants, not 5,000 per day. 

Democrats plan to call up various pieces of legislation and try to pass them by a process known as unanimous consent. That would mean a single senator can object. 

The White House held a meeting last week with key administration officials and Democrat lawmakers. The discussion centered around moving forward by forcing Republicans to vote on legislation they oppose. Potential executive actions were also discussed.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York attended the meeting, which covered other topics but focused largely on immigration, the sources said.

He blamed Republicans and former President Donald Trump for the deal’s falling apart and said: “Republicans need to get serious about fixing the border and ignore Donald Trump. After all, you can’t say it’s an emergency and then refuse to take action.”

When did Democrats make clear that the situation at the border is unacceptable? There has been silence from most Democrats since the Biden border crisis began. I’m old enough to remember being told that silence is complicity. The only Democrat who has consistently spoken against the open southern border is Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) who represents a border district. He is also the only pro-life Democrat in the House. There has not been support for border security among Senate Democrats. 

Some advocates are worried that the new policy would be too restrictive on asylum, said two immigration advocacy leaders who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 

A Department of Homeland Security official with knowledge of the discussions said the White House would most likely invoke power reserved for the president in Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows a president discretion over who is admitted into the U.S. 

Using that authority, Customs and Border Protection would be directed to block the entry of migrants crossing over from Mexico if daily border crossings passed a certain threshold. The tactic is similar to a provision of the bipartisan border security bill from February.

A former DHS official and an immigration advocate pointed out that advocacy groups are likely to argue in court that 212(f) does not give the president the authority to shut down the border. But the former DHS official said that even if the Biden administration is enjoined, invoking 212(f) would show a willingness to try to take control of the border, an area in which President Joe Biden is struggling ahead of his re-election battle against Trump.

No one who has paid attention to the open southern border would believe that Democrats are interested in closing the border, or at least getting it under reasonable control. Biden delegated the southern border to Kamala Harris and she has taken only two brief visits to the El Paso area when it was not in the middle of the crisis. She shows up for quick photo ops with Border Patrol agents and city officials. Then she’s off, flying out of town. Biden has made two trips to the border where both spots were sanitized for him. Again, it was just photo ops and greeting local officials. 

This is not a serious administration. Everything is decided by looking at what is best in a political lens. The Democrats have decided to try to convince voters that they are serious about border security in the eleventh hour because the issue is toxic for them. Democrats want to take back the House and keep the Senate and White House. 

If you are as disgusted about life in Biden’s America as we are here at Hot Air, please consider becoming a VIP member. Go HERE to find the best plan for you. All the writers here work every day to fight the good fight against the Marxist Democrats in Washington, D.C. We need real change in November, beginning with voting for a new president. We appreciate your support. We can’t do this without you. 

This post was originally published on this site

It became clear this was coming last week when the school’s president announced that the encampment could not continue. This morning the University of Chicago became the latest school to have a pro-Palestinian encampment cleared out by the police.

Word apparently got out late last night that a 3 am clearing of the camp was possible. Some of the protesters left and took their belongings but those who remained called people to rally at the camp in anticipation of the raid. By 4 am nothing had happened and the rally was ended. Police arrived at 4:30 and ordered those who remained to leave. Minutes later they started removing the tents and other junk.

BREAKING: Police have just raided the encampment at the University of Chicago pic.twitter.com/mRjAvNTcO6

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) May 7, 2024

The newly awake protesters had a special chant ready about police making arrests:

“More than 40,000 dead, you’re arresting kids instead!” chants from protesters as police dismantle the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at the University of Chicago this morning pic.twitter.com/1EeelphjxB

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) May 7, 2024

No arrests were made though. Just a lot of junk removed.

By the time the sun came up the camp had been cleared.

Protesters facing off with police at the University of Chicago this morning after officers moved in to clear the pro-Palestine encampment set up on campus pic.twitter.com/mOabU3l2LU

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) May 7, 2024

Students were given a final notice warning them that they could be arrested if they refused to leave (but again no one was).

“Final Notice to Students Participating in Encampment on Main Quad” passed out by UCPD to protesters remaining here next to a police line pic.twitter.com/NAcblN5TL3

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) May 7, 2024

There was some shoving as police tried to move the crowd back.

Protesters push back against barricades as police attempt to move the crowd back here at the University of Chicago pic.twitter.com/abgPZiPIE9

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) May 7, 2024

The school’s president released a statement this morning titled “Ending the Encampment.”

Last Monday and Friday, I shared how we would approach making decisions about the encampment. Protest is a strongly protected form of speech in the UChicago culture, and the demonstrators had multiple opportunities to express their views. But many aspects of the protests also interfered with the free expression, learning, and work of others. Safety concerns have mounted over the last few days, and the risks were increasing too rapidly for the status quo to hold. This morning, the University intervened to end the encampment.

The protesters were given an opportunity to disassemble their structures and depart the encampment, and there have been no arrests. Where appropriate, disciplinary action will proceed.
 
Over multiple days, including through the weekend, we engaged with the representatives of the encampment to work toward a resolution. There were areas where we were able to achieve common ground, but ultimately a number of the intractable and inflexible aspects of their demands were fundamentally incompatible with the University’s principled dedication to institutional neutrality. As such, we could not come to a resolution. 
 
The University remains a place where dissenting voices have many avenues to express themselves, but we cannot enable an environment where the expression of some dominates and disrupts the healthy functioning of the community for the rest.

Organizers sent out a message on Instagram calling on their supporters to “flood” the campus. Interesting choice of words. The militants who murdered Israelis on 10/7 called their operation the  Al-Aqsa Flood. 

 Around 8 am the quad was reopened after all the junk had been removed. 

The quad at the University of Chicago being cleared this morning after police dismantled the pro-Palestine encampment on campus pic.twitter.com/T45KEfLUR1

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) May 7, 2024

Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn were apparently on hand all morning.

Bernardine Dohrn, a former leader of Weather Underground, arrived at the encampment with Bill Ayers, a former militant organizer who co-founded far-left militant group Weather Underground in 1969, at 5:30 a.m., after receiving a call from a student encampment participant.

Dohrn, who has spent several days during the week at the encampment, thinks that “universities should be a place of argument and dispute and conversation and education. And the idea of bringing the police in here is absolutely against everything that the school should stand for.”

As an alumna of the College and UChicago Law, “I’m furious about it. And I’m totally with the students,” she said.

Ayers told the Maroon that a “smart college administrator should first of all, defend the idea of the University. And secondly, congratulate the students for bringing this issue up in the way that they have peacefully, lovingly.” 

If those two aging creeps aren’t the definition of outside agitators, I don’t know what is. But despite their encouragement, all that’s left of the encampment now are light spots where tents were killing the grass.

The quad this morning after the police clearing of the pro-Palestine encampment at the University of Chicago pic.twitter.com/eVHHUnUyQD

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) May 7, 2024

Of course we’ve seen this before where police clear a camp and then protesters return. Will it happen later today at UChicago? We’ll have to wait and see.

This post was originally published on this site

The Trump trial in New York perfectly encapsulates Joe Biden’s America. 

An invented crime. Prosecuted by a political operative of Joe Biden’s choosing. In front of a judge whose family is profiting off of it. In front of a jury picked in a city that famously hates Trump. 

Democrat Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan, who donated to Biden, is threatening to jail Trump.

For stating Merchan’s daughter is raising millions from this unprecedented criminal trial.

And Matthew Colangelo, a former DNC consultant and senior Biden DOJ political appointee, is… pic.twitter.com/rY5wZl9yRz

— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) May 7, 2024

And, to top it off, a gag order meant to shut the president up. The judge has stolen the president’s First Amendment right (as if rights mean anything to this crowd) on pain of incarceration. 

NEW: President Trump just posted this video on Truth Social, blasting corrupt judge Juan Merchan and his unconstitutional gag order. pic.twitter.com/G6vITqzyd7

— LivePDDave 🇺🇸 (@LivePDDave1) May 6, 2024

Everything about this trial screams corruption of the highest order. The prosecutor worked for the Democratic National Committee as a political consultant, which would be the biggest story of the decade if Trump were doing this to Biden or Hillary Clinton. 

But in Biden’s America, the rule of law is done. Gone. Dead. And if you speak about it, at least if you are Donald Trump, you can go to jail. 

What a sham.

Ex-top Biden DOJ official now prosecuting Trump was once paid by DNC for ‘political consulting’https://t.co/Rma6nmpdjj

— Mike Berg (@MikeKBerg) May 6, 2024

It used to be that we would get frustrated at the hypocrisy of our political opponents, but now I long for the days when Democrats were just hypocrites. They, and the entire Establishment, are budding tyrants testing the limits of what they can get away with. These days, they look to Xi Jinping as a political consultant. 

I would say Putin, but no media figure has been tossed out a window here yet, so that would be an exaggeration. 

The legal system is the hammer that the Democrats use, but they can’t jail everyone who dissents. 

They can, and they are determined to, put a gag order on every one of us through censorship. The censorship apparatus is in place, often used, and being expanded every day. 

FBI agents hassled an Oklahoma woman over her Facebook posts.

“We do this every day, all day long,” one of the agents said.https://t.co/AQSrgw3nlt

— reason (@reason) March 30, 2024

We live in a country now where all day, every day, the FBI is showing up at people’s doors. To intimidate people for what they say. Can you imagine being on the receiving end of a visit from multiple FBI agents to ask about your Facebook posts? 

That is Joe Biden’s America. And it will get worse and worse if Biden stays in office. 

Here at HotAir and Townhall Media, we see this up close and personal all the time, mostly through Big Tech censorship. The way it works is pretty simple: the federal government shoves some money at an NGO to rate “reliability” of news sources, those NGOs label leftists reliable and conservatives (and moderates sometimes) “unreliable” or “unsafe,” and then Big Tech takes those ratings to downgrade the search for and monetization of the “unsafe” sites. 

Just one example: one of these ratings sites lists RealClearPolitics as a spreader of disinformation, but Huffington Post as reliable. 

You can’t make this up. 

As you can guess, getting downrated and demonetized has a huge impact on the business operations of any news source the feds and the left don’t like, and that is the point. Funnel all the money to the MSM and the left and bankrupt the right. 

That’s why we keep imploring our readers who haven’t signed up for VIP memberships to do so. Our operations depend on our subscribers because the most lucrative advertising is steered away from us. No major corporation is going to put themselves in the crosshairs. They see what the Biden administration does to people who buck them. 

Ask Elon Musk about that. As soon as he bucked the speech police, he became public enemy #2 after Donald Trump. Musk revels in that, but no corporate CEO at a Fortune 500 company wants anything to do with offending this president. It is a threat to their business and perhaps even their freedom. 

We need YOUR help to stay in the game. 

So, once again, I am asking you to chip in a few bucks a month to keep HotAir and Townhall Media publishing. Your VIP membership is quite literally what makes our work possible. 

USE CODE “CENSORSHIP” TO GET 50% OFF!

And to our current VIP members: a big, hearty THANK YOU! You have no idea how grateful we are — I am — to have your support!