Republican News

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No, this is not the Babylon Bee. It is real life on an Ivy League campus. 

Claudine Gay, as you recall, is the utterly disgraced former president of Harvard University who put herself in the crosshairs by defending calls for genocide and then was exposed as a serial plagiarist. 

It seems right for a professor to teach research ethics to Ivy League students. Who better?

This is utterly amazing. https://t.co/Lh3WYBv3Uo

— Wilfred Reilly (@wil_da_beast630) April 18, 2024

I read the news earlier this week on The College Fix, and never got around to writing about it. But as it is Friday and I am in need of a bit of humor to end my week, I decided to take a stab at it. 

Harvard University’s former president who resigned after numerous plagiarism allegations is slated to teach a graduate level “Reading and Research” course this upcoming semester.

Professor Claudine Gay returned to teaching and her reportedly nearly $900,000 annual salary after resigning the presidency after ongoing plagiarism accusations and criticism of her response to campus antisemitism.

Gay looked set to keep her sinecure as Harvard President until the plagiarism scandal hit. The Board stood behind her despite enormous pressure from alums and others, but their determination collapsed when Gay was forced to acknowledge that she made some faux pas in her scholarship. 

Not even her intersectional privilege could survive the double blow. Harvard could sustain the financial costs for a while–they are immensely wealthy–but having to endure the jokes at their expense was a bridge too far. 

Gay is still getting her nice salary of nearly a million a year–peanuts to Harvard, of course–as a lovely parting gift, and I suppose she has to pretend to do some work in order to justify that yearly stipend. Harvard certainly couldn’t let her go, after all. She is a Black woman and the world would spin out of its orbit before they took that reputational hit. 

Outkick had more than a little fun at Harvard’s and Gay’s expense upon reading the news. 

Harvard says the course does not provide letter grades. Letter grades uphold a grading system that disproportionately favors white students, several Harvard administrators argue. 

Grades are racist.  

The school adds that the course requires “written work of sufficient quantity and quality so that the course is equivalent to a lecture course or a seminar.”

Got it.

Future employers can rest assured that students who pass the course will be well-equipped to publish adequately-cited work after learning from Dr. Gay… 

“Quantity and quality.” You can generate the first by stealing quotes from other scholars. The second is not so easy. Perhaps people should get David Hogg or Jazz Jennings to help them with their research. I hear they got into Harvard due to stellar skills. 

Ivy league schools have gotten so far and happy that they resemble the aristocracy in a late feudal society. Merely existing as such provides all the resources and prestige that their forebears earned. 

Harvard certainly retains great reserves of scholarly resources, but those are sort of beside the point. Nice to have around and all, but irrelevant to the mission of the university anymore. It is all about being in the right class. 

And if you are a lazy Harvard student, the right class in this case is Claudine Gay’s.

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That “pause” that we talked about yesterday didn’t last very long. Israel launched its anticipated retaliatory strike on Iran this morning, firing missiles into the city of Isfahan in the central part of the country. The location was probably significant because that is the site of Iran’s Natanz nuclear research facility as well as one of its larger military air bases. This appeared to be more of a “message” attack than a broader escalation of the war because it was significantly smaller than Iran’s attack on Saturday. Iran tried to play down the incident, with their state news network describing it as a “loud noise” in the region. The Biden administration quickly distanced itself from the response, saying that the White House “didn’t endorse” Israel’s response. 

Israel launched its expected retaliatory strike against Iran on Friday morning, according to multiple reports.

Israeli missiles hit at least one site in Iran, ABC News reported, citing US officials, and Iranian state media alerted citizens to explosions heard in the central part of the Islamic republic.

The attack comes after Iran rained down more than 300 drones and missiles toward the Jewish nation last Saturday — though nearly all were intercepted by Israel and its allies.

Israeli officials notified the US on Thursday that it had planned to strike Iran within 24 to 48 hours, according to Bloomberg News. 

Marco Rubio decided to have a bit of fun with the announcement, noting that the attack came on Khamenei’s birthday.

Hearing @khamenei_ir is having a blast today on his birthday https://t.co/z3NOan5vS3

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) April 19, 2024

The reason I described this event as more of a “message” is that Israel clearly wanted to make a statement. Iran previously warned that even the “tiniest” attack by Israel would result in a savage response. This morning’s attack was Bibi Netanyahu’s way of telling the Mullahs that they do not dictate how or when Israel will respond to attacks on its people and territory.

At the same time, the response was actually proportional in a way. Iran launched a massive number of drones and missiles at Israel, but almost none of them reached their targets. Israel’s attack got through without any apparent issues. Iran is coming away from this exchange looking like the weaker and more impotent opponent. If they decide to attack Israel again, they have been shown that they are vulnerable in the heart of their own country.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of today’s events was the response from the Biden administration. By saying that the White House “didn’t endorse” the attack, Biden is obviously trying to keep his hands clean for political reasons. Tony Blinken was trotted out this morning to assure everyone that America was “not involved” in the attack. A strong ally would have immediately put out a statement saying that Israel had been attacked and we fully support their right to defend themselves as they see fit. Instead, the Biden administration is attempting to look like a neutral third party to avoid angering the pro-Hamas wing of the Democratic base.

Given the limited scope of the attack and Iran’s muted response, today’s actions may have been a calculated gambit on Israel’s part. Rather than escalating the situation into an all-out war, we could be seeing a return to the status quo. General Spider Marks was on CNN this morning explaining how this exchange might signal a return to the proxy war that preceded last Saturday’s attacks by Iran. That’s not an ideal situation, of course, but a full-blown, direct war between Israel and Iran could not only produce unexpected consequences but could conceivably draw other Arab states in the region into the fray. Israel has demonstrated that it can handle Iran’s proxies with the support of its allies, but nobody wants to see this fight expand to global levels.

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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s presidential campaign had a major victory on Thursday. Kennedy is on the Michigan ballot. 

That may not sound like much but he can muck up the race for Joe Biden as he gains ballot access in various states. In Michigan, for example, all of those voters who voted ‘uncommitted’ in the Democrat primary have an alternative to Joe Biden if they don’t want to go home to the Democrat Party in November. In the Michigan primary, that amounted to about 100,000 votes. 

Joe Biden squeaked by in Michigan in 2020. He can’t afford to lose a big chunk of voters in 2024. Trump narrowly won Michigan in 2016. Michigan is a crucial battleground state.

Kennedy is working to get access to all 50 state ballots.  

RFK, Jr. was nominated by the Natural Law Party, a small party with ballot access in Michigan. 

“He’s the most qualified candidate in the modern-day history of America,” Natural Law Party Chairman Doug Dern said in a statement released by the Kennedy campaign. “We welcome Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Shanahan to the party.”

The news was confirmed by the Michigan Secretary of State’s office. The Natural Law Party has filed its documents with the Bureau of Elections. Kennedy will appear on the ballot in November. 

Thank you, Natural Law Party for nominating us to be on Michigan’s 2024 presidential ballot. 🙏 #KennedyShanahan24 🇺🇸 https://t.co/iI7JuLyfo8 pic.twitter.com/Vnxj3pfTVe

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) April 18, 2024

Some Republican voters worry that Kennedy pulls voters from Trump but most polls show that he pulls more from Biden. 

The Kennedy campaign announced that the candidate would celebrate its access to the Michigan ballot on Sunday when he hosts “A Night of Laughter” comedy show at a theatre outside of Detroit. 

“We are doing everything in our power to get President Biden and Vice President Harris re-elected. It’s critical that we take seriously every possible obstacle to that goal,” Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis emphasized in a recent conference call with reporters. “And let me be clear, that’s exactly what Robert F. Kennedy is in this election. He’s a spoiler.”

Also on Thursday, Joe Biden was campaigning in Pennsylvania for the third day this week. He held an event with a few Kennedy family members who endorsed his re-election. What a garbage move. Biden already held an event with a larger crowd of Kennedys at the White House on St. Patrick’s Day. Their brother and cousin gracefully responded to the knife in the back.

I hear some of my family will be endorsing President Biden today. I am pleased they are politically active — it’s a family tradition. We are divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other.

I hold this as a possibility for America too. Can we disagree without…

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) April 18, 2024

The Kennedy clan is large and RFK, Jr. has support from many of them, especially the younger ones. Kennedy delivered a similar message as his relatives gathered at the White House on St. Patrick’s Day. Some Kennedys work in the Biden administration. Caroline Kennedy is the U.S. Ambassador to Australia. 

I’m not a Kennedy voter but I’m enjoying the show so far. 

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They were warned. Multiple times. But these students were so convinced that camping on a campus would remake the world that they stunningly and bravely refused to leave when ordered to by the college. 

The NYPD showed them the error of their ways. 

Simple thumb-rule: People covering their faces are the bad guys https://t.co/Ev5wDwVLBJ

— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) April 18, 2024

It wasn’t exactly Kent State, thank God. It was a bit more like exasperated parents giving their unruly child a “time out” as a last resort when a toddler is having a tantrum. 

BREAKING‼️NYPD cops arrested anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protestors from Columbia University grounds today after the president of the college finally made the decision to remove the protestors.

Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, was one of the protestors and she’s been suspended… pic.twitter.com/dOW1IbZmTI

— Ermias (@ErmiasAlem) April 18, 2024

Among the stunning and brave peace warriors was Isra Hirsi, a Barnard College at Columbia student. Hirsi unsurprisingly hates America as much as her entitled communist mother (yes, she actually is a communist and comes from a family that was part of the Somali government before it was tossed out). 

It is likely no coincidence that the students were arrested almost simultaneously with the testimony of Columbia’s president on Capitol Hill. Academic presidents are under enormous pressure to push back against all the Hamas love and Jew hatred on their campuses, and evicting the students was a great opportunity to demonstrate that universities might not be “safe spaces” for only the right kind of hate.

Update: Barnard College sent a statement announcing the suspension of students who are at the unauthorized encampment at Columbia University.

One of the suspended students is Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi. pic.twitter.com/spuDShyoci

— Kassy Akiva (@KassyDillon) April 18, 2024

Ilhan Omar was displeased that her daughter got caught up in the backlash, perhaps because she had to plunk down some cold, hard cash to send her daughter to school. Or, perhaps, she believes in communist immunity and terrorist privilege. 

Or both. Probably both. 

Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, has been suspended from Barnard College, a part of Columbia University, due to her involvement in anti-Israel protests.

This action follows Rep. Omar’s questioning of Columbia University’s president regarding the treatment of… pic.twitter.com/yuEB7mifU1

— Gene Mikhov (@genegmb) April 18, 2024

The Left is obsessed with shutting down free speech, but they get upset when people who are actually breaking the law having tantrums about fake causes face even the smallest of consequences. 

Dr. Cornel West is egging on the “liberated zone” protesters at Columbia University. pic.twitter.com/X787EVbnXR

— Stu (@thestustustudio) April 18, 2024

What these students are doing is not “free speech” at all. It is harassment and intimidation and in this case, trespassing. Not to mention violating a raft of school policies to which the students agreed when they decided to attend. Sending out a tweet should force people to lose the privilege to participate in society, but breaking the law in the service of terrorists is moral activism. 

those of us in Gaza Solidarity Encampment will not be intimidated. we will stand resolute until our demands are met.

our demands include divestment from companies complicit in genocide, transparency of @Columbia’s investments and FULL amnesty for all students facing repression

— isra hirsi (@israhirsi) April 18, 2024

“Repression.” Ah, would that it were so. This is no more repression than a parent sending a child into their room. I suggest Isra visit their mother’s homeland to discover what real repression is. It is as absurd as her parent, an actual Congresswoman, complaining about the horrible discrimination she faces every day. 

Commie gonna commie, though. 

Columbia has always had an incredible history of students fighting for a more just world and it’s good to see that tradition continue. As NYPD surrounds young activists, I hope their concerns are heard by school administrators and they not be criminalized. In solidarity ✊🏽 pic.twitter.com/UV8k3xltKT

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 17, 2024

Ilhan Omar happens to be my congresswoman, so I have had a front-row seat in her rise to power. She mobilized the huge Somali refugee community to get her endorsed first as a State Representative and then for Congress in a close primary. Antisemitism has been one of her pitches to the large Somali community here, although Leftist Jewish leaders have been hesitant to oppose her for fear of being labeled xenophobic. 

“We will honor all the martyrs. All the children, sons and daughters.
We will honor all the martyrs.
All the parents, fathers, daughters.”@Columbia today. This is how the elite Ivory Tower student body now looks en masse. Visible and vocal solidarity with jihadis who bomb,… pic.twitter.com/UE6iDg55ej

— Matthew Tyrmand (@MatthewTyrmand) April 18, 2024

We shall see if that pattern holds this year. Will intersectionalism beat out the rejection of hate? Perhaps. Perhaps not. 

But I do have a tiny bit of hope that Omar may, as her daughter has, face the consequences of her actions. 

We are all allowed to hope, aren’t we?

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A twelve-person jury has been seated in the first criminal trial against former President Donald Trump. One alternative juror was selected and another six alternative jurors may be selected today.

It was originally reported that jury selection might take up to two weeks but it looks like it will be finished after four days in court. The court is not in session on Wednesdays. This means that opening statements will begin soon. It could begin early next week.  

This is an unprecedented time. A former president is being criminally prosecuted in what is being called a hush-money trial as he runs for election in November. The statute of limitations has run out so what would normally be a misdemeanor trial has morphed into a criminal trial, thanks to Manhattan D.A. Alvin Briggs, who is obsessed with throwing Donald Trump in jail. 

Judge Juan Merchan dismissed two of the seven jurors on Thursday that had been selected on Tuesday. The jury selection process moved ahead and the remaining five were selected. 

Judge Merchan’s ability to be a non-partial judge is questioned because he is a donor to Democrats, including Joe Biden. He’s a small donor so he refused to recuse himself.

Judge Juan Merchan, the jurist handling former President Donald Trump’s criminal case in Manhattan, donated $35 to Democratic causes in 2020, including $15 to President Biden’s campaign and $10 to a group dedicated to “resisting … Donald Trump’s radical right-wing legacy.”

Federal Election Commission records show Merchan made three small-dollar donations within the span of two days in July 2020 through ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s preferred online fundraising platform. 

The veteran judge contributed $15 earmarked for the “Biden for President” campaign on July 26, 2020, and then the following day made $10 contributions to the Progressive Turnout Project and Stop Republicans. 

The Progressive Turnout Project’s stated mission is to “rally Democrats to vote,” according to the group’s website. 

Merchan’s daughter is a different story. She is a big-time Democrat fundraiser. She has raised millions of dollars for Democrats, including Joe Biden. She is currently fundraising off of Trump’s trial. That stinks to high heaven.

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a payment issued to Stormy Daniels, a porn star when Trump first ran for office in 2015. The alleged affair happened in 2006. 

Who are the jurors? It is reported that there are seven men and five women. The judge has made it clear to reporters that the identity of the jurors is to be kept under wraps. 

CBS News reports the following information. 

These jurors were seated Thursday, as reported by CNN:

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Last May I wrote about a group of Chinese hackers who’d been identified by Microsoft after malware was discovered in telecom systems on the island of Guam. Microsoft named the hacking group “Volt Typhoon.”

Microsoft called the hacking group “Volt Typhoon” and said that it was part of a state-sponsored Chinese effort aimed at not only critical infrastructure such as communications, electric and gas utilities, but also maritime operations and transportation. The intrusions appeared, for now, to be an espionage campaign. But the Chinese could use the code, which is designed to pierce firewalls, to enable destructive attacks, if they choose.

Today, FBI Director Christopher Wray spoke at a summit on emerging threats in Nashville and talked about Volt Typhoon and the threat presented by Chinese hackers.

“The PRC [People’s Republic of China] has made it clear that it considers every sector that makes our society run as fair game in its bid to dominate on the world stage, and that its plan is to land low blows against civilian infrastructure to try to induce panic and break America’s will to resist,” he said in remarks at the Vanderbilt Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats in Nashville…

“The fact is, the PRC’s targeting of our critical infrastructure is both broad and unrelenting,” he said. And, he added, the immense size—and expanding nature—of the CCP’s hacking program isn’t just aimed at stealing American intellectual property. “It’s using that mass, those numbers, to give itself the ability to physically wreak havoc on our critical infrastructure at a time of its choosing,” he said. 

Wray gave this example of a trap set up for the hackers which suggested they were interested in more than profit.

“When one victim company set up a honeypot—essentially, a trap designed to look like a legitimate part of a computer network with decoy documents—it took the hackers all of 15 minutes to steal data related to the control and monitoring systems, while ignoring financial and business-related information, which suggests their goals were even more sinister than stealing a leg up economically,” he said.

For its part, China has released a report claiming that Microsoft’s investigation (the one that named Volt Typhoon last year) was mistaken. The hackers aren’t backed by the state China claims, but simply criminals looking for ransomware opportunities. Here’s what state media had to say just a few days ago.

Multiple cybersecurity authorities in the US have been pushing “China-sponsored” Volt Typhoon false narrative just for seeking more budgets from the US Congress. Meanwhile, Microsoft and other US cybersecurity companies also want more big contracts from US cybersecurity authorities, according to a report about the investigation…

Volt Typhoon hacker group is a ransomware cybercriminal organization without state or regional support background, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular press conference on Monday commenting on the investigation report, saying that various signs indicate that US intelligence community and cybersecurity companies are colluding to fabricate so-called evidence and spread false information that the Chinese government supports cyberattacks against the US, in order to seek congressional budget appropriations and government contracts.

No doubt this is the sort of plausible deniability China planned on if its hackers were caught. But US allies seem convinced that Volt Typhoon is a very large Chinese operation.

Daniel Cuthbert, who sat on the UK Government Cyber Security Advisory Board, said the Volt Typhoon hacking system is bigger than anything China has unleashed before…

“In essence, Volt Typhoon is a campaign, albeit a very large one, by Chinese state agents actively gaining access to industrial control systems and other critical national infrastructure,” Cuthbert told Newsweek.

“Similar campaigns have been happening for a very long time, but I think what has surprised many, including myself, was the sheer scale of the campaign.”

China can continue to deny it is involved but clearly our intel agencies are onto what they have been doing and have been removing the malware from compromised computers. Whatever China was planning to do with this capability, it probably won’t be able to now. 

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Scotland needs its water checked and, like, STAT. Unless the entire country’s been taken over by aliens – which could possibly be true, I discount nothing anymore – this level of all-encompassing insanity has to have a source.

As I told you earlier, Scotland’s infamous “Hate Crime Law” went into effect on 1 April. It was championed by none other than the king of hateful speech himself, Humza Yousaf, the country’s first minister. It is, for all effects and purposes, legislation against thought crimes and has created a class system of victims whom you dare not look at, criticize, or even walk swiftly by whilst ignoring.

All of these things, should said designated victim take offense, could see you dragged down to the local cop shop for interrogation or worse. Cruel eyes, whether you deployed them or not, are now chargeable under Humza Yousaf’s draconian sense of victimhood justice.

Contrary to all rosy assurances from proponents of the legislation that none of these feared developments would be the case at all, little old ladies have already been carted off to their nearest Police Scotland station for a thorough going-over with authorities. 

Their crime?

A dispute with neighbors.

2 in 3 Scots believe the Hate Crime Act should be repealed.

Yet Humza Yousaf seems to think that he’s right and everyone else is wrong.

Humza Yousaf’s Hate Crime law is wasting police time and threatening free speech. It must be scrapped. pic.twitter.com/2jgyY5n6Ak

— Scottish Conservatives (@ScotTories) April 18, 2024

Yousaf himself has been incensed by thousands of reports filed against him for hate speech against whites in Scotland. His only true goal has been to be able to clap J.K. Rowling in irons for her anti-transgender ideology stance.

She irritates the crap out of the man and is unabashedly challenging the lunacy of the law and he can’t shut her down.

But, in fact, Yousaf’s incendiary anti-white speech on the floor of the Scottish parliament was so racist that the official transcript was changed by the government.

They completely changed it’s context by adding ‘is’ multiple times. Took the clear vitriol out of it and made it seem more reasonable.

Why did Police Scotland not instead refer to the now infamous video evidence directly in any case??

— soulstorm_design (David Whyte) (@slstrm_dsgn) April 18, 2024

And that transcript of “SCOTLAND IS TOO DAMN WHITE” is what Scottish police used when they dismissed the hate-crime reports against Yousaf. They did not refer to the video of his speech.

Neat, huh?

Whereas Rowling’s tweets stand on their own, and she stands boldly behind them. No one had to clean or “clarify” (read: sanitize”) anything up for her.

“Holyrood admits changing the official record of Humza Yousaf’s ‘white’ speech to ‘clarify the meaning’” – Scottish Daily Express https://t.co/0pN82aeXOT

— Bob M 🇬🇧💫 (@bobmca1) April 18, 2024

That’s a scandal right there.

But it gets worse. It’s important to remember that in the original hate crime bill, women were left out. There were no specific protections for “women” unless you happened to be a woman of one of the included victim classes. Fuggedaboudit white woman.

Transgenders got protection from implied cruel looks, or being called “Sir” if they were males.

Yousaf has now proposed a “MISOGYNY” companion to the new law, which would now PROTECT already victim-class protected “trans” women (aka MEN) from hateful acts against women.

I NEED A COCKTAIL

Trans-identified men have sent violent threats to women but the likes of Beth Douglas (attached) now receive double protection from Yousaf: for his so-called gender identity, and for also being, in the eyes of the Scottish government, a woman. 2/2https://t.co/98yBu7UXmD

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 16, 2024

WAIT, WHUT

That definition of ” misogyny” again is:

mi·sog·y·ny

/məˈsäjənē/

Humza Useless is a barking mad, hate-filled lunatic.

What could be worse than a law that criminalises misogyny? A law that criminalises ‘misogyny’ against men.

This week, Humza Yousaf announced that the SNP’s planned anti-misogyny law will cover literally ‘anyone’ who feels they have been ‘affected’ by misogyny. Of course, as everyone knows, misogyny means the hatred of women. Yet the Scottish first minister is adamant that transwomen should also be included in the proposed law because, supposedly, ‘they will often be the ones who suffer threats of rape or threats of disfigurement’ that are driven by misogyny. According to Yousaf, ‘the man making the threat doesn’t know’ whether he is threatening ‘a transwoman or a cis woman’, and that the ‘perception’ of womanhood is all that matters.

I mean…WTFO?

‘Scotland’s most powerful politician is telling us that trans women are indistinguishable from biological women. Not just that: he is arguing that a law against misogyny is needed to protect the very people who categorically cannot experience it.’
https://t.co/g0OlxKJoRd

— Julie Scott 🍒 (@judgejules75) April 17, 2024

Yousaf’s obviously been on glue long enough.

The question is, “HAS SCOTLAND?!“

Put the bottle down and back away from this guy.

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Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) announced he will take an early retirement from Congress. His announcement sent shockwaves through the Republican Party. 

His last day was set to be Friday but that may change. He may stay long enough to vote for Speaker Mike Johnson’s foreign aid legislation this weekend. This will give Johnson a boost in support. A spokesperson for Gallagher said that he has “flexibility to stay and support the aid package on Saturday.”

That’s good news. It’s lousy that some Republican lawmakers have decided to cut bait and run instead of finishing out their full terms in the House. It is especially bad since the Republican majority is so tiny. It means that without a strong majority in the House, some Democrat support is necessary to pass legislation. It puts Johnson in a bad spot. Early retirement is also a disservice to voters who supported him. Gallagher isn’t finishing his job. 

Gallagher has served in the House for eight years. He is young at age 40, the youngest committee chairman in recent history. He is a national security and foreign policy hawk. That’s not surprising, given he is a veteran. He served for seven years on active duty in the United States Marine Corps, including two deployments to Iraq.

Gallagher chairs the high-profile Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. He also chairs the Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation. 

At the time of his retirement announcement, Gallagher cited his young family and the time he was missing with his daughters. He announced in February and said at the time that he would finish his term. Then he changed his mind in March and said he would leave early.

Johnson plans to put up his four-pronged foreign aid legislation for votes on Saturday evening. Johnson needs Gallagher’s votes because some House Republicans are voicing their objections. Gallagher’s TikTok bill will likely be wrapped in the fourth bill. 

Anyway, Gallagher cited death threats when he announced his retirement. It turns out there has been some swatting going on, too. 

After he chaired his last House Select Committee hearing on China’s possible connection to fentanyl overdose deaths in the United States, he spoke with reporters. 

Rep. Gallagher said, “This is more just me wanting to prioritize being with my family. I signed up for the death threats and the late night swatting, but they did not. And for a young family, I would say this job is really hard.”

FOX 11 reached out to Gallagher’s office about his comments on death threats and late night swatting calls. It’s unclear if any specific incident led to his early resignation.

However, FOX 11 did confirm through the Brown County Sheriff’s Office — which patrols Allouez, where Gallagher lives — a case number was assigned late last year to a swatting incident related to Gallagher.

The Sheriff’s Office said it reached out to U.S. Capitol Police about the incident. In January, the investigation was handed over to federal authorities, including Capitol Police, the FBI and the United States Secret Service.

The threats and swatting take a toll on anyone. It must be especially difficult for families with young children. 

In a statement to FOX 11, Capitol Police said, “Anytime a Member of Congress is the victim of a “swatting” incident, we work closely with our local and federal law enforcement partners. To protect the ongoing investigations and to minimize the risk of copy-cats, we cannot provide more details at this time.”

Gallagher has not said what his plans are when he leaves Congress. He has said he and his family plan to remain in the Green Bay area. 

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Yesterday we had the president of Columbia University testifying before congress about anti-Semitism on campus. Today, the NYPD has moved in to arrest a group of student protesters who’ve been camping out in tents as part of a pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel protest. There is truly nothing the left loves more than shouting obscenities at police.

Live from Columbia: NYPD in riot gear clearing out pro-Palestine encampment and arresting students who refuse to leave. pic.twitter.com/Wrb3Sw1orT

— Rikki Schlott (@RIKKISCHLOTT) April 18, 2024

Naturally, the NYPD doesn’t just show up uninvited to arrest student protesters. A couple hours ago (as I write this) President Shafik released a statement saying she had made the decision to let them in, but only after multiple attempts to 

This morning, I had to make a decision that I hoped would never be necessary. I have always said that the safety of our community was my top priority and that we needed to preserve an environment where everyone could learn in a supportive context. Out of an abundance of concern for the safety of Columbia’s campus, I authorized the New York Police Department to begin clearing the encampment from the South Lawn of Morningside campus that had been set up by students in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

I took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances. The individuals who established the encampment violated a long list of rules and policies. Through direct conversations and in writing, the university provided multiple notices of these violations, including a written warning at 7:15 p.m. on Wednesday notifying students who remained in the encampment as of 9:00 p.m. that they would face suspension pending investigation. We also tried through a number of channels to engage with their concerns and offered to continue discussions if they agreed to disperse.

I regret that all of these attempts to resolve the situation were rejected by the students involved. As a result, NYPD officers are now on campus and the process of clearing the encampment is underway.

Protests have a storied history at Columbia and are an essential component of free speech in America and on our campus. We work hard to balance the rights of students to express political views with the need to protect other students from rhetoric that amounts to harassment and discrimination. We updated our protest policy to allow demonstrations on very short notice and in prime locations in the middle of campus while still allowing students to get to class, and labs and libraries to operate. The current encampment violates all of the new policies, severely disrupts campus life, and creates a harassing and intimidating environment for many of our students…

This is a challenging moment and these are steps that I deeply regret having to take. I encourage us all to show compassion and remember the values of empathy and respect that draw us together as a Columbia community.

It sounds to me like President Shafik wants to keep her job. In any case, here’s what happened today. Police arrived in force. They issued warnings that the encampment was unauthorized and then moved in and started making arrests while protesters surrounding the area chanted “Shame on you!”

NYPD entered @Columbia campus, led by Chell & Daughtry. SRG shouldered their way past students, then played a recording about an “unlawful encampment” and that students would be charged with trespassing.

At least a thousand students watching, yelling “Shame!” at NYPD. pic.twitter.com/iWFo0MiGpI

— Talia Jane ❤️‍🔥 (@taliaotg) April 18, 2024

Chanting aside, the protesters who refused to leave were arrested.

Live from Columbia: Students are shouting “shame” at NYPD officers arresting students who refused to leave an illegal protest-Palestine campus encampment. pic.twitter.com/Re3sH3wfg2

— Rikki Schlott (@RIKKISCHLOTT) April 18, 2024

Apparently there were about 70 protesters in the tent camp so it didn’t take very long. They were put on waiting buses and taken away. But that still left hundreds of students in the area who continued protesting.

🚨UPDATE🚨 THOUSANDS of students at Columbia University are on the plaza with 100s of students occupying the West Lawn pic.twitter.com/0maFuvzs0R

— sebas 🇵🇸🇸🇩🇨🇩🇵🇬 (@cybersebb) April 18, 2024

Some of them started “occupying” another nearby lawn by jumping the fences on both sides.

UPDATE: Columbia students are now occupying the other lawn in solidarity with the encampment protesters who were arrested pic.twitter.com/ZTpA2N8o4g

— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) April 18, 2024

Meanwhile the tents and belongings of the arrested students were cleared out and dumped in an alley.

Columbia has DUMPED student belongings in a FUCKING. ALLEYWAY. pic.twitter.com/AlTsYH03nz

— *tired screaming* 🇵🇸 (@Ruth_Mensch) April 18, 2024

Cornel West arrived to express his solidarity. He seems to be very popular with this particular crowd.

🚨UPDATE: Cornel West has joined the students occupying the West Lawn at Columbia University in support and solidarity with the students arrested in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment and the Palestinian struggle!!! pic.twitter.com/hfMOds7Qi0

— sebas 🇵🇸🇸🇩🇨🇩🇵🇬 (@cybersebb) April 18, 2024

The NY Times reports that Rep. Jerrold Nadler, who is an Columbia alumni, is supporting Columbia’s decision to bring in the NYPD.

Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York. Nadler is one of House’s leading civil libertarians and its longest-serving Jewish member. “Columbia has an obligation to protect students and their learning environment,” he said. “The university has set guidelines for peaceful protests on campus, and Columbia has a right to enforce their own rules. Those who continue to violate campus policies are putting members of the Columbia community at risk.”

Meanwhile, one of the groups organizing the unauthorized protests on campus is asking students to demand that all charges are dropped.

‼️ ACTION ALERT ‼️
Call Columbia University Public Safety at 212-854-2797 and DEMAND:
– ALL charges are dropped
– NO further arrests #cu4palestine pic.twitter.com/9NRJALKCfl

— Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (@ColumbiaSJP) April 18, 2024

So I guess we’ll see who has more power at Columbia, the adults who supposedly run the place or the student protesters who, up until today, have actually been running it. These arrests may win President Shafik some relief from critics on her right but it will greatly intensify the attacks from her left. I hope she has good personal security.

This post was originally published on this site

Yesterday, 28 pro-Hamas employees occupied the offices of Google managers to protest a contract between the company and Israel. 

BREAKING—DOZENS OF @GOOGLE WORKERS LEAD HISTORIC COAST TO COAST-INS AT @GOOGLECLOUD CEO THOMAS KURIAN’S OFFICE IN SUNNYVALE & @GOOGLE’s NYC 10TH FLOOR COMMONS. They refuse to leave until @google stops powering the genocide in Gaza

LIVESTREAM: https://t.co/uUiPbr3oDz pic.twitter.com/vCkInh0769

— No Tech For Apartheid (@NoTechApartheid) April 16, 2024

Google removed and fired them. 

Good. Very good. 

Ed wrote about the firing here. 

Google is terrified of us. @Google is terrified of workers calling for accountability and transparency from our bosses. These mass, illegal firings will not stop us. They only fuel the organic growth of this movement. #NimbusNine #GoogleworkersFired https://t.co/OOPPlXkHmQ

— No Tech For Apartheid (@NoTechApartheid) April 18, 2024

The protest was part of a #notechforapartheid movement, a loosely affiliated group of tech workers pushing for tech companies to punish Israel for not tolerating the rape, murder, and kidnapping of its citizens. Now I have no idea what Google leadership thinks of the war in Gaza, and that is all to the good. I don’t want to know because Google is a corporation whose mission isn’t international affairs but providing tech services. 

Google already takes sides in too many contested issues. Choosing not to do so in another is a step in the right direction. 

Google on Wednesday fired 28 workers after dozens of employees participated in sit-ins at the company’s New York and Sunnyvale, Calif., offices to protest the company’s cloud computing contract with the Israeli government.

A day earlier, nine employees were arrested on charges of trespassing at the two offices.

“Physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and completely unacceptable behavior,” a Google spokeswoman said in a statement.

Years before the dismissals, tensions had been simmering between the company’s management and some activist employees over Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion Google and Amazon deal to supply the Israeli government with cloud services, such as artificial intelligence.

I have written many times about Google’s censorship–their ad platform censors me and other Townhall Media writers–and their Left-wing bias, so no doubt this move is more about preserving corporate operations than getting out of politics. 

But it also demonstrates that Google has limits, which implies that the limits can be contracted and it can get back to business. It may take a while, and a lot of pressure from outside, but it is at least possible. 

Terminated worker here. Listen when employers tell you exactly who they are

McCarthyism is alive and well. Look how terrified they are of worker power 🔥

Solidarity always ✊ we’ll keep us safe when we fight together https://t.co/Zx49hplD50

— Dr. KS (@katejsim) April 18, 2024

The basic problem stems from the fact that these vastly wealthy companies are filled with self-important, incredibly entitled, and overeducated Gen Zers who believe that their life mission is to save the world. 

A world about which they know nothing, except what the writers of The Narrative™ tell them. They latch onto the latest Thing™, whether it is COVID, Ukraine, or now Gaza. 

They have been celebrated, indulged, and called stunning and brave for having tantrums. They need more than a little FAFO. 

And that is what Google is promising. As Ed says

A company-wide e-mail from executive VP Chris Rackow underscored that miscalculation and laid down the law in very clear terms:

The protests were “unacceptable, extremely disruptive and made co-workers feel threatened,” Rackow wrote in the email.

“The overwhelming majority of our employees do the right thing,” Rackow wrote. “If you’re one of the few who are tempted to think we’re going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again.”

He added, “You should expect to hear more from leaders about standards of behavior and discourse in the workplace.” 

Google employs some horrible people, and it’s time to clean houses there and throughout corporate America. One of the fired employees justified rape of Israeli women, claiming that criticizing minorities for raping White women was White supremacy. If so, I am all for it, although I believe rape of any woman should be a capital offense. 

this person was responsible for child safety at google https://t.co/XWqDWWNSgY pic.twitter.com/1Q4bEayXNP

— pagliacci the hated 🌝 (@Slatzism) April 18, 2024

She was there to ensure child safety. Well, we know how our betters view children, so we shouldn’t be surprised. 

Google CEO Sundar Pichai threw down the gauntlet, and as with universities and corporations rethinking DEI, this may start a trend at other corporations. 

No more BS. Get to work. 

If this is a one-off, that would be a disappointment. 

So let’s hope this is the start of a trend.