The Biden administration in its long-awaited report on combating Jew hatred is making a concession to anti-Israel activists by embracing a watered-down definition of anti-Semitism that says it’s OK to hold the Jewish state to higher standards than other countries.
The Thursday announcement is a significant blow to mainstream Jewish groups, which had lobbied the White House to exclusively endorse the stronger International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism. While the White House says the United States “has embraced” the IHRA definition, it also praises the conflicting “Nexus” definition, which states that it is not anti-Semitic to denounce Israel’s creation or treat the Jewish state more harshly than other countries.
Anti-Israel groups such as J Street and Americans for Peace Now had pushed the White House to mention multiple definitions of anti-Semitism in the report to avoid giving legitimacy to the IHRA standard, which prominent Biden administration officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have endorsed. The Biden administration’s report states there are “several definitions of anti-Semitism, which serve as valuable tools to raise awareness and increase understanding of anti-Semitism.”
In 2016, former CBS head honcho Les Moonves said Donald Trump’s presence in politics “may be bad for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.” Clearly Mooves was not the only network head to have made such an assessment. On Thursday, just on CNN and MSNBC, Trump was mentioned by name a whopping 399 times between 6:00 am and 4:00 p.m. ET.
MRC analysts used a combination of live broadcasts and Snapstream transcripts to find every mention of the former President on CNN and MSNBC. In just 10 hours, Trump’s name was invoked 399 times across both networks. MSNBC just barely edged out its competitor with 208 mentions (52%), while CNN was responsible for the remaining 191 mentions (48%).
Media mogul Oprah Winfrey is being floated as a potential replacement for ailing Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) should the 89-year-old lawmaker step down before the end of her term, according to a report.
Feinstein, who returned to the Senate earlier this month, has already said she will not run for re-election in 2024, but the Associated Press reports that several names including Winfrey’s are being discussed as potential replacements in case Feinstein retires.
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom would be tasked with choosing Feinstein’s successor should she retire before the 2024 election.
Newsom has previously vowed to appoint a black woman should Feinstein’s seat open up.
On May 15, 2023, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas delivered a Nakba Day speech at the U.N. General Assembly. Abbas said that the U.S. and Britain are to be “blamed” for creating Israel in order to get rid of their Jews, and he claimed that despite Israel’s efforts to excavate under the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Israelis have not found any historical or archeological evidence that prove their presence in Jerusalem in the past. In addition, he said that the Israelis continue to lie “like Goebbels.” Moreover, he said that the issue of the Palestinian refugees must be solved, and that he himself is a refugee and wants to return to his birth city of Safed.
A powerful California teachers’ union was part of a successful pressure campaign to get the Los Angeles Dodgers to re-invite a group of anti-Catholic drag queen nuns to the team’s annual Pride Night. The union suggested that LGBT students’ lives were at stake.
“At a time when LGBTQ+ rights are under attack across the country with more than 400 pieces of legislation filed in states, at a time when 45 percent of LGBTQ+ youth report seriously considering committing suicide each year, we should be leading with love and inclusion in California rather than sowing division,” the California Teachers Association president said in a statement on Monday, referring to a spate of “red state” legislation restricting sex-change treatment for minors and a 2022 Trevor Project survey. “Our students are watching what happens on and off the field.”
The union had resolved to speak out after the Dodgers rescinded an offer to honor the drag group, known as the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, for its advocacy before a June 16 home game against the San Francisco Giants. The resolution, which was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, went even further than the union’s public statement, likening the controversy over the baseball game ceremony to the AIDS epidemic.
Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch are sponsoring at least three different upcoming Pride events despite backlash over the partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, a social media influencer who identifies as transgender.
Bud Light is listed as a sponsor on the Cincinnati Pride Parade website. Planned Parenthood and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, which medically transitions minors, are both also listed.
Meanwhile, in St. Louis, Missouri, where Anheuser-Busch is headquartered, the company is listed as the presenting sponsor of the St. Louis Pride Parade. A sponsorship packet explains that there are only four “presenting sponsor” slots available. The “Rainbow” sponsorship tier, located below the “presenting sponsor” tier, requires entities to pay $25,000.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) issued what he described as a “formal travel advisory for socialists visiting Florida,” on Tuesday, warning that the state was “openly hostile” to socialists and their enablers.
“The state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by Socialists and others who work in the Biden Administration,” Scott, who is also the state’s former governor, said in a press release.
“Let me be clear – any attempts to spread the oppression and poverty that Socialism always brings will be rebuffed by the people of Florida,” he added. “Travelers should be aware that attempts to spread Socialism in north Florida will fail and be met with laughter and mockery.”
President Joe Biden has once again claimed that his son Beau died in Iraq, after doing so multiple times on the campaign trail and during his presidency.
Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015 at Walter Reed National Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, at the age of 46.
“My son was a major in the US Army. We lost him in Iraq,” he told troops at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni last week during a visit to Japan. The New York Post obtained video footage of the remarks, which did not attract media coverage at the time. The outlet contended that the president made the remarks out of earshot from reporters.
Republicans in Montana have taken a strong stand against drag queens reading books to children, banning the practice at libraries and schools.
Republican governor Greg Gianforte signed Montana HB 359 on Monday; over half of the state legislature cosponsored the bill, which bars minors from attending sexually oriented shows.
After nixing the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” (SPI) from their list of honorees at a “Pride Night” game in mid-June, the Los Angeles Dodgers are offering a second invitation to the drag queen group.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who describe themselves as a “leading-edge Order of queer and trans nuns,” are a drag group whose members dress up in sexualized nun habits and sexualized depictions of Jesus Christ. The group was set to receive a Community Hero award June 16, but considerable backlash from Catholic groups and Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio caused the team to disinvite the group. Now, the Dodgers are extending their invite to “the Sisters” for a second time.
“After much thoughtful feedback from our diverse communities, honest conversations within the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and generous discussions with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Los Angeles Dodgers would like to offer our sincerest apologies to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, members of the LGBTQ+ community and their friends and families,” the MLB team wrote in a statement Monday.
