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Friday, May 3, 2024

Biden Finally Chastises Antisemitic, Violent Campus Protesters

Spencer Brown: After being criticized for burying previous comments on the surge of pro-terrorist unrest on American campuses at the end of his written Passover statement, President Joe Biden abruptly made public remarks about “what’s going on on our college campuses” Thursday morning (Townhall). Townhall: Biden finally speaks on the pro-Hamas demonstrations taking over college campuses across the country: “Let me be clear…violent protest is not protected, peaceful protest is…vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations, none of this is a peaceful protest” (X).

Democrats Nervous Campus Protests Could Cause Voters to Rally Behind Trump

Axios: House and Senate Democrats’ anxiety is spiking as pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses around the country kick into overdrive. “The longer they continue, and the worse that they get, the worse it’s going to be for the election overall,” one House Democrat told Axios. The demonstrations, the lawmaker warned, are “bringing out the public’s most conservative side. “In the last 24 hours, protests on college campuses from New York to California have escalated in severity. Photos and videos of these campus protests made the rounds among horrified Democratic lawmakers (Axios). Daily Wire: Former President Donald Trump has been outspoken in his denunciation of the protests. He said Wednesday, “I say remove the encampments immediately, vanquish the radicals and take back our campuses for all of the normal students who want a safe place from which to learn” (Daily Wire).

Nation of Colombia Cutting All Diplomatic Ties With Israel

Left-wing President Gustavo Petro is a former member of the Marxist guerrilla group “19^th of April” (Britannica). NPR: Colombia is set to break diplomatic relations with Israel over its actions in Gaza. Speaking to a crowd in the capital Bogotá on Wednesday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said that the country “will break diplomatic relations with the state of Israel” on Thursday, calling its government “genocidal.” “If Palestine dies, humanity dies, and we are not going to let it die,” he said. Colombia is one of the U.S.’s closest partners in Latin America, and it has previously been a close partner of Israel (NPR). Times of Israel: Petro has repeatedly lambasted Israel’s actions in Gaza, refusing to condemn Hamas’s October 7 onslaught — in which some 1,200 people were murdered and 253 taken hostages, mostly civilians. Just three days after the massacre, he likened top Israeli officials to Nazi Germany (Times of Israel).

Judge Juan Merchan is Doing Everything He Can to Convict Donald Trump

National Review: In the ongoing criminal trial, elected progressive Democratic DA Alvin Bragg doesn’t have much of a case. But he has the judge, and that is all he needs. Judge Juan Merchan is orchestrating Trump’s conviction of a crime that is not actually charged in the indictment: conspiracy to violate FECA (the Federal Election Campaign Act — specifically, its spending limits). That should not be possible in the United States, where the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment mandates that an accused may only be tried for a felony offense if it has been outlined with specificity in an indictment, approved by a grand jury that has found probable cause for that offense (National Review). Fox News: But unless one or more brave souls on that jury see through this fraud of a Soviet-style show trial and hangs the jury, many convictions are coming Trump’s way, and the Merchan/Bragg combo is going down in American legal history along with the names of every other disreputable judge and prosecutor you can recall from American history (Fox News).

China Ignores Biden’s Red Line in Ukraine

Wall Street Journal: President Biden warned China two years ago not to provide “material support” for Russia’s war in Ukraine. On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken conceded that Xi Jinping ignored that warning. China, Mr. Blinken said, was “overwhelmingly the No. 1 supplier” of Russia’s military industrial base, with the “material effect” of having fundamentally changed the course of the war. Whatever Mr. Biden chooses to do next will be momentous for global security and stability. Mr. Biden can either enforce his red line through sanctions or other means, or he can signal a collapse of American resolve by applying merely symbolic penalties. Beijing and its strategic partners in Moscow, Tehran, Pyongyang and Caracas would surely interpret half-hearted enforcement as a green light to deepen their campaign of global chaos. Mr. Xi sees a historic opportunity here to undermine the West (Wall Street Journal). FDD: China Has Crossed Biden’s Red Line on Ukraine. The president warned Xi not to provide ‘material support’ to Russia. Will there be consequences (X).

Iran Uses Oil Profits to Sow Discord Throughout the Middle East Through Terrorist Proxies

Times of Israel: Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday said Iran was the “driving force” of a recent multi-front escalation, while detailing the funding the Islamic Republic provides to its proxies across the region. Gallant told reporters in a briefing that Iran funds the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon with $700 million a year, as well as “knowledge and strategic weaponry” such as precision-guided munitions. The Hamas terror group that rules the Gaza Strip is funded by Iran with $100 million annually, with additional funding worth tens of millions of dollars going to the second largest terror group in the Palestinian enclave, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Gallant said (Times of Israel). Wall Street Journal: Iran’s oil exports hit a six-year high last month. In a normal country, this wouldn’t be news. But the Islamic Republic isn’t a normal country. The regime in Tehran is a violent theocracy under U.S. and international sanctions. President Trump reimposed energy sanctions on Iran in 2018 when he left the Iran nuclear deal. These sanctions remain in effect, but the Biden administration is failing to enforce them, which has created a financial windfall for Iranian terrorism. Iran’s oil revenue underwrites a war machine that is tearing apart the Middle East. Oil proceeds finance militias in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain and Yemen. They target and kill American citizens. In January, Iranian proxies killed three American soldiers stationed in Jordan (Wall Street Journal).

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Poll Reveals Americans Have Little Faith in the Media

AP Poll: The public relies heavily on local and national news organizations as sources for news about elections, but many adults have concerns about the reliability of the information they get. About half of adults say they are extremely or very concerned about news organizations reporting inaccurate information (53%). Almost as many worry news outlets will report unverified information (47%) or focus too much on divisions or controversies (48%) (AP Poll). HotAir: As a result, only 14% express confidence in the national media — and only 11% in their local media. Should the media be surprised by this? No, but they certainly will pretend to be. The Associated Press predictably tries to shift blame for the confidence crisis in their industry (HotAir). Associated Press: Years of suspicion about journalists, much of it sown by politicians, is partly responsible. People are also less familiar with how journalism works (Associated Press).

Biden Looks to Deepen U.S. Ties With the World Health Organization

Katie Pavlich: Senate Republicans are sounding the alarm over the Biden administration’s latest plans to partner with the World Health Organization on future pandemic management. In a letter sent directly to President Joe Biden Wednesday, dozens of Senators warn he is selling out U.S. sovereignty to the international body under the guise of an “emergency” (Townhall). Fox News: The Republican senators stressed that any such agreement would be considered a treaty, which they noted requires “the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate under Article I Section 2 of the Constitution” (Fox News).

Suspected ISIS Affiliate Arrested After Living in the U.S. for Two Years

Townhall: A suspected member of the terrorist group ISIS was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after living in the states for two years after he illegally cross the border in 2022. The man, 33-year-old Jovokhir Attoev, crossed into Arizona and was apprehended by Border Patrol agents in February 2022. U.S. officials could not find any “derogatory information” on Attoev. He was then released inside the U.S. on bond. In May 2023, Uzbekistan put out a notice that Attoev was wanted in his home country for being affiliated with ISIS. In March 2024, U.S. government officials were reviewing Attoev’s application for asylum when they discovered the international notice from Uzbekistan. From there, officials connected it with a man living in Maryland. Attoev was arrested on April 17 in Baltimore and is in custody in Pennsylvania (Townhall). NBC: Multiple law enforcement officials told NBC News that the U.S. has not definitively determined whether Attoev is a part of ISIS or if he ever carried out or planned to carry out an attack. DHS continues to seek information and is questioning him further while he is in detention The national terrorist watchlist, which is maintained by the FBI, includes the names of 1.8 million people considered potential security risks. Attoev was not on the watchlist at the time he crossed the border in 2022 or at the time he was arrested in April (NBC).

10.

United Methodist Church Joins the Ranks of LGBTQ

Albert Mohler: The United Methodist Church committed theological treason yesterday, leaving Biblical Christianity behind in a headlong rush to join the LGBTQ revolution. In the view of the progressives, they were making up for lost time. In the long view of Christian history, they were marching off the map of orthodox Christianity. By a vote of 692 to 51, and without a word of formal debate, the United Methodist General Conference voted to overturn the church’s historic discipline and doctrine on homosexuality. As far back as 1972 the church had adopted language in its Book of Discipline that stated those convictions clearly. As recently as 2019, the Methodists had even strengthened the language. The statement was clear: “The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Therefore self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church.” That language is about as clear as it gets. No one misunderstood what it meant (WNG).