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Friday, March 15, 2024

Senator Chuck Schumer Calls for New Elections in Israel

Associated Press: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday called on Israel to hold new elections, saying he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “lost his way” and is an obstacle to peace in the region amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Schumer strongly criticized Netanyahu in a 40-minute speech Thursday morning on the Senate floor. Schumer said the prime minister has put himself in a coalition of far-right extremists and “as a result, he has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.” “Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah,” Schumer said (Associated Press). NBC: Schumer expressed support for a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, as President Joe Biden has been pushing for, saying it “would allow for the return of hostages and humanitarian relief of suffering Palestinians.” He said he’s against a permanent cease-fire because he said it would only allow Hamas to “regroup and launch further attacks on Israeli civilians” (NBC). Guy Benson: It’s astounding to see the Senate Majority Leader calling for new elections & the toppling of an elected leader in an allied country, from the Senate floor. But this is the same man who threatened SCOTUS justices by name, from steps of the Court (X).

Lawfare Against Trump Erodes Respect for the Law in the Citizens

Wall Street Journal: The newest buzzword in our politics is lawfare, or using the legal system as a weapon against a political opponent. It sits before us now as a spectacle of political gluttony. How many lawsuits, court motions and judgments against Donald Trump can the Democratic Party chow down? More disturbing is the high price the American system may pay for this excess. The argument on behalf of this really quite unprecedented legal offensive boils down to one idea: No one is above the law. True. That view is sometimes known as ensuring respect for the law. My single-sentence reply is that the Democrats’ use of lawfare on this scale makes it likely that respect for the law will decline, and dangerously so, among much of the American public. That the lawsuits have backfired politically, boosting Mr. Trump into an easy victory in the primaries, is incontestable. The media lately has been writing that the Trump legal team’s strategy of “delay” is working, implying that Mr. Trump was supposed to take it all passively in the neck (Wall Street Journal). RNC Research: Kamala Harris claims President Trump will “weaponize the Department of Justice against his enemies” — which is exactly what the Biden administration is doing right now (X).

7.6 Percent of Americans Identify as LGBTQ Reaching All-Time High

NBC: The percentage of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer adults in the U.S. continues to increase, reaching an all-time high of 7.6% in 2023, according to a new Gallup report. Broken down by gender, the survey of 12,000 people 18 and older across the country found that women were nearly twice as likely as men to identify as LGBTQ. This is the first year Gallup has laid out its annual LGBTQ identification report in a way that breaks down each generation by gender. Looking at all generations, 8.5% of women and 4.7% of men identified as LGBTQ, the survey found. The survey reported margins of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points among LGBTQ respondents (NBC). Daily Wire: More than one in five Generation Z adults now identify as LGBT, new data shows, including nearly 30% of Gen Z women (Daily Wire). Gallup: Bisexual adults make up the largest proportion of the LGBTQ+ population — 4.4% of U.S. adults and 57.3% of LGBTQ+ adults say they are bisexual (Gallup).

Kamala Harris Will Visit Abortion Clinic on Tour Promoting Abortion

Katie Pavlich: Kamala Harris is about to make history as the first sitting vice president to visit an abortion clinic as part of her multi-state tour touting the issue. The move comes as the 2024 race for the White House heats up with former President Donald Trump currently beating President Joe Biden in a number of key states. Both Biden and Kamala have high disapproval ratings (Townhall). Axios: In his State of the Union address last week, Biden made a forceful case for reproductive rights and accused Republicans of wanting to restrict birth control and in-vitro fertilization (IVF). But he skipped over the word “abortion,” which was included in his prepared remarks, and used phrases that he’s more comfortable with, such as “freedom to choose.” I happen to be a practicing Catholic. I’m not big on abortion,” Biden told donors last June. Harris is much more comfortable talking about abortion. She routinely calls Republicans “extremists” for supporting national abortion bans (Axios).

Tennessee Government Council Wants To Give Illegal Immigrants Legal Status When They Turn 18

Daily Wire: A Tennessee government council is asking the state legislature to give certain illegal immigrants taxpayer-funded college tuition payments, vehicle repairs, and legal representation. The Tennessee Youth Transitions Advisory Council, created by the legislature to help the state with foster care, called in its annual report for the Tennessee General Assembly to consider giving legal status to illegal immigrant children so that they could be qualified for extended foster care services. This means that illegal immigrants 18 or older would be given access to taxpayer-funded legal, educational, and health benefits currently only available to state citizens. The proposal to extend foster care services to illegal immigrants comes as Tennessee has faced criticism over a shortage of available beds for foster care children, as well as reports that illegal immigrants released into the country by the Biden administration plan to make their way to the Volunteer State (Daily Wire).

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) Argues for 32-Hour Work Week

Fox Business: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has unveiled a plan that would create a 32-hour workweek with no loss of pay. The independent lawmaker, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) and a self-described democratic socialist, said his bill to establish a four-day workweek is not radical and would lead to a better quality of life for millions of Americans. “Moving to a 32-hour workweek with no loss of pay is not a radical idea,” Sanders said in a press release. “Today, American workers are over 400 percent more productive than they were in the 1940s. And yet, millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages than they were decades ago. That has got to change.” Sanders’ bill, titled the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act, would reduce the standard workweek from 40 hours to 32 hours over four years by lowering the threshold for overtime pay for non-exempt employees (Fox Business). The Recount: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) argues for a 32-hour workweek, citing that Americans now work more hours than “any other wealthy nation.” He says in 2022, U.S. employees logged: 204 more hours than workers in Japan, 279 more hours than the UK, 470 more hours than Germany (X).

Female Athletes Sue NCAA for Allowing Trans Athletes To Compete in Female Athletics

Free Press: Over a dozen female athletes are suing the National Collegiate Athletics Association for letting transgender athletes compete against them and use female locker rooms in college sports. At the center of the class-action lawsuit is Lia Thomas, the trans athlete who dominated the 2022 NCAA Swimming Championships while a student at the University of Pennsylvania. The suit states that both the NCAA and Georgia Tech, which hosted the event, knowingly violated Title IX, the federal statute that guarantees equal opportunity for men and women in college education and sports. The lawsuit, the first federal action of its kind, seeks to change the rules, rendering any biological males ineligible to compete against female athletes. It demands the NCAA revoke all awards given to trans athletes in women’s competitions and “reassign” them to their female contenders. It also asks for “damages for pain and suffering, mental and emotional distress, suffering and anxiety, expense costs and other damages due to defendants’ wrongful conduct” (Free Press).

Produce Price Index Signals Inflation Pressures Not Relenting

New York Post: Wholesale prices in the United States accelerated again in February, the latest sign that inflation pressures in the economy remain elevated and might not cool in the coming months as fast as the Federal Reserve or the Biden administration would like. The Labor Department said Thursday that its producer price index — which tracks inflation before it reaches consumers — rose 0.6% from January to February, up from a 0.3% rise the previous month. Measured year over year, producer prices rose by 1.6% in February, the most since last September. The figures could present a challenge for the Fed, which meets next week and is counting on cooling inflation as it considers when to cut its benchmark interest rate, now at a 23-year high. The Fed raised rates 11 times in 2022 and 2023 to fight high inflation (New York Post). Townhall: With surging PPI inflation, there’s also room to worry that consumer inflation will increase in the months ahead as summer begins as a result of producers passing along chronically high costs to end-use consumers (Townhall).

West Point Updates Mission Statement Removing the Motto "Duty, Honor, Country"

Fox News: The U.S. Military Academy at West Point has made the decision to remove the “Duty, Honor, Country” motto from its mission statement. Officials stressed that the phrase would remain West Point’s motto, however, and that the mission statement has changed on a regular basis; this new mission statement is West Point’s tenth since 1925. “Duty, Honor, Country” hadn’t been included as part of the mission statement until 1998. In a letter sent to students and supporters, Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland said the phrase would be replaced in the mission statement with the words, “Army Values” (Fox News). Townhall: “Our absolute focus on developing leaders of character ready to lead our Army’s Soldiers on increasingly lethal battlefields remains unchanged,” Gilland insisted. But if nothing is changing about West Point’s “absolute focus,” then why change the mission (Townhall)?

10.

Biden Administration Caught in Lie While Trying to Distance Themselves From Anti-Semitic Group

Townhall: The White House was caught trying to rewrite history Thursday afternoon on their previous partnership and promotion of the Council on Islamic Relations. CAIR is the country’s largest Muslim advocacy group and its co-founder, Nihad Awad, celebrated the October 7 terrorist attacks during a speech to the American Muslims for Palestine convention in December (Townhall). Gabby Deutch: WH spox Andrew Bates told me that CAIR was *not* invited to WH mtgs in Chicago w/ Muslim Americans—& that the group is NEVER invited to WH mtgs. His comments follow Politico report today quoting CAIR’s Chicago director re: WH outreach to Palestinian & Arab communities (X). National Security Advisor Omri Ceren: White House spox just told journalists that CAIR is never invited to White House meetings. He’s lying. Pretty brazenly, actually. Of course CAIR gets invited to their meetings. Here’s a picture from May 2023 (X). Steve Guest: Biden spox Andrew Bates can’t get away with such a brazen lie. CAIR literally released a press release on their White House visit (X).