New Freedom Caucus leader fires warning shot as conservatives rebel against must-pass defense bill
EXCLUSIVE: The new chair of the House Freedom Caucus is sending a somber warning to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and GOP leaders as Congress readies to pass its annual defense policy bill Thursday. “I’ll just say I think it’s a terrible mistake. A colossal failure,” Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., told Fox News Digital in an interview Wednesday afternoon. When pressed on whether House Republican leaders could face retribution from their right flank, Good smiled slightly and said again, “I think it’s a terrible mistake. I think it’s a colossal failure.” GOP hardliners have been criticizing House Republicans over this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after the text of the compromise with the Democrat-controlled Senate removed a number of conservative policy goals on transgender surgeries and abortion, among others. CHINA BOOSTS MILITARY SPENDING BY BILLIONS AS US WARNS OF POTENTIAL TAIWAN INVASION They’re also angry about its inclusion of a short-term extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s (FISA) Section 702, which critics say has been misused to spy on private U.S. citizens without a warrant. Supporters of the tool say it’s critical to prevent terror attacks from overseas. That provision is also opposed by several progressives. “I think the NDAA/FISA combination represents everything that’s wrong with Washington. I think it’s an abysmal failure,” Good said. “We passed a good NDA back in the summer … that reversed the harmful, woke, damaging policies by the Biden administration that are destroying our military.” PENTAGON’S $1.8 BILLION AI REQUEST KEEPS US IN ‘RACE TO ACHIEVE SUPERIORITY’ OVER CHINA The House Freedom Caucus is circulating an internal talking points memo to members arguing that negotiation over the NDAA was done “behind closed doors” rather than through the conference committee appointed by the House and Senate to negotiate. The memo, which a source sent to Fox News Digital, also pointed out that the White House has signaled President Biden will sign the bill if it gets to his desk. “It’s no surprise that the Biden administration has blessed the bill and urged its passage as it surrenders on many of the policies that House Republicans claim to fight for,” the memo said. House leaders are bringing the NDAA to the floor under suspension of the rules, meaning it will forgo an initial procedural vote but will need two-thirds support, rather than a simple majority, to pass. SENATE AND HOUSE HEADED FOR SHOWDOWN OVER DEFENSE BILL “You had a four corners backroom secret deal that’s now being brought under suspension of the rules because they fear it wouldn’t pass … otherwise, when they’re attaching FISA to it,” Good said Wednesday. “I’m doing everything I can to influence members to vote against it. It takes a two-thirds vote. That means we need close to half of Republicans to vote against it, depending on how many Democrats might vote against it, for probably different reasons. But it’s an abysmal failure.” The NDAA is expected to get a vote Thursday morning if it passes the Senate by then. Good’s warning comes after more than 50 lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, signed a letter to congressional leaders on their opposition to a “clean” extension of the current FISA in late November.
Democrats fume over reported Biden offer to reinstate Title 42-type migrant expulsions: ‘Truly shameful’
Democrats in the House and Senate are furious at reports that the White House is open to new restrictions on asylum at the border to get a deal done on its supplemental funding request — with lawmakers accusing the White House of “selling out” migrants to appease Republicans. “It is truly shameful that President Biden and his administration are considering selling out migrants and asylum seekers in order to placate extreme Republicans who are jeopardizing our national security and that of our allies just to score a political point,” Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said in a statement. Talks have been ongoing between lawmakers and the administration over a supplemental funding request that includes border funding as well as aid for Israel and Ukraine. The border section would be around $14 billion of the approximately $106 billion package. MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS AGAIN TOP 10K IN A SINGLE DAY AS LAWMAKERS EYE NEW BORDER LIMITS But Republicans have said that the package does not include enough restrictions on asylum and the use of humanitarian parole, and want measures in place to curb the release of migrants into the U.S. Lawmakers argue that those releases are acting as a pull factor for more migrants to come to the border. As talks appeared to stall, with some Democrats opposed to policy changes to restrict asylum, President Biden indicated last week that he was open to “significant compromises” on the matter. CBS News reported Tuesday that the administration has now indicated it is open to a new border authority similar to Title 42 — the COVID-era order that allowed for the rapid expulsion of migrants at the southern border until May this year — but without the necessity of a public health justification. The administration was reportedly also open to a nationwide expansion of expedited removal, which allows for recently-entered migrants to be quickly removed if they do not meet the initial asylum standard. It is currently only being used at and near the border. CBS reported that the White House was willing to mandate the detention of certain migrants as their claims are considered. The White House and Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital, but the White House told CBS that it “has not signed off on any particular policy proposals or final agreements, and reporting that ascribes determined policy positions to the White House is inaccurate.” 5,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RELEASED EVERY DAY INTO US, ADMIN OFFICIALS PRIVATELY TELL LAWMAKERS “The President has said he is open to compromise and we look forward to continued conversations with Senate negotiators as we work toward a bipartisan package,” spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez said. Left-wing Democrats tore into the administration and accused it of trying to revive Trump-era practices on the border and immigration. Menendez said it was “the height of absurdity that the Biden administration is putting forward, with a straight face, callous and inhumane changes to our immigration system that President Trump could only have dreamed of accomplishing.” “There is no excuse for entertaining failed Trump-era immigration policies,” Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said. “These cruel, extreme policies are a complete nonstarter for me and many other congressional Democrats,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said. “We need real, humane solutions to our immigration system and simply cannot be trading unworkable, permanent policy changes for one-time funding.” Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., called the reported proposals “Deplorable. Irresponsible. Unacceptable.” “The fact we are considering exchanging the lives of asylum seekers for Ukrainian lives is draconian & immoral,” she said. Meanwhile, some Democrats have said that they would require any policy changes to be accompanied by a pathway to citizenship for some illegal immigrants already in the U.S. It is also unclear if any compromise package would have enough votes to get through the GOP-controlled House, where top lawmakers have previously demanded the entirety of the Republican border security package be included as part of any agreement. Meanwhile, there were another 10,000+ encounters at the southern border on Tuesday alone, the latest in a surge that has left multiple sectors overwhelmed.
Longtime Kentucky Senate leader Damon Thayer says he won’t seek reelection in 2024
Damon Thayer, a mainstay in the Kentucky Senate who played a key role in legalizing sports wagering and helped shape rafts of conservative policies, said Wednesday that he won’t run for reelection next year. Thayer has spent more than a decade as majority floor leader in the GOP-led Senate, putting him at the forefront of the chamber’s activities. He is the longest-serving Republican to serve in that leadership post in Kentucky history, according to a release announcing his decision not to seek another term. KENTUCKY DEMOCRAT WINS SPECIAL ELECTION TO FILL SEAT IN STATE’S GOP-DOMINATED SENATE “I have accomplished most of the political and policy goals I set out to achieve,” Thayer said in the release. “I am grateful to the residents of the 17th District who granted me the honor of representing them in the Senate, and to my colleagues in the GOP caucus for the privilege of being their majority leader.” The Georgetown Republican, who has a year remaining in his current term, said he made the decision to step down after next year after conversations with his adult children, close friends and colleagues. The end of his term will mark 22 years in the Senate and 12 of them as majority floor leader. His district includes Grant and Scott counties and portions of Fayette and Kenton counties. Thayer achieved one of his long-running policy goals this year when a bill to legalize sports betting in Kentucky won final legislative approval shortly before the session ended. The measure cleared the last hurdle in the Senate after days of uncertainty over whether backers could muster enough support. During the debate, Thayer said: “We love our sports in the commonwealth. And people want to be able to make the choice — of their own free will — to make a wager on a sports event.” Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear recently said that Kentucky has collected stronger than projected tax revenues from sports wagering in the weeks since betting on ballgames started. Thayer has been a frequent critic of the governor, but the two found common ground on the sports wagering issue. Thayer gained a reputation as a leading advocate for Kentucky’s thoroughbred racing, bourbon and tourism industries. He supported of legislation for wagering on historical racing machines — a lucrative revenue source tapped into by the state’s racetracks. Historical racing machines allow people to bet on randomly generated, past horse races. The games typically show video of condensed horse races. The tracks have reinvested some of the revenue to make Kentucky’s horse racing circuit more competitive. He backed a measure to phase out the property tax on the value of barrels of aging spirits — a key issue for bourbon producers. And he secured $75 million for tourism recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic. Thayer’s conservative credentials included support for right-to-work legislation and repeal of prevailing wage. He supported a tax overhaul in 2022 that will phase out individual income taxes in Kentucky. His fellow Republican, Senate President Robert Stivers, said Wednesday that Thayer “has brought such conviction and passion to creating conservative legislation in Kentucky.” With one year left in his term, Thayer said he will pursue the Senate GOP’s policy goals with the “vigor and enthusiasm people have come to expect” in the 2024 session, which begins in early January. Another Georgetown Republican, state Rep. Phillip Pratt, announced on the same day that he won’t seek another term in 2024. Pratt is chairman of the House Small Business and Information Technology Committee. Pratt said he will serve the remainder of his current term, adding that he hopes to “have an opportunity to accomplish a few more things before it ends.”
Biden admin agency quietly leaned on Soros and other billionaire-backed groups for key policy roles
A Biden administration agency has quietly leaned on a web of technology and antitrust advocacy groups funded by George Soros and other progressive billionaires for critical policy and enforcement roles, Fox News Digital has learned. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), tasked with protecting consumers, has previously faced criticism over its “revolving door” with regulated industries. Now, it has not only relied on a handful of groups for their expertise but has pulled individuals from a network funded by the same small collection of affluent Democrat donors for crucial government positions. It’s the latest illustration of how the Biden administration has counted on outside organizations that receive considerable funding from progressive benefactors. Soros’ Open Society Foundations, for instance, has also bankrolled an organization called Governing for Impact that works behind the scenes with the administration on policy and has boasted of implementing dozens of regulatory agenda items in its internal documents. “Our grantees give voice to people outside of Washington, in Washington,” an Open Society Foundations spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “We’re proud of our work and our grantees’ work to protect the interests of people in the United States who are all too often excluded from the policymaking process.” SECRETIVE SOROS-FUNDED GROUP WORKS BEHIND THE SCENES WITH BIDEN ADMIN ON POLICY, DOCUMENTS SHOW Under chair Lina Khan, the FTC has faced accusations of sidelining career staff as it appears to have relied on dark money nonprofits. Earlier this year, Christie Wilson, the sole Republican on the commission, stepped down and admonished Khan in her resignation letter. “Under her leadership, knowledgeable career staff have been scorned and sidelined,” Wilson charged in her March resignation letter. “Most notably, early in her tenure, a gag order was imposed on staff that prevented them from engaging in consumer and business education – a vote of no confidence in our staff and a disservice to those we serve.” Khan has turned to the groups backed by the cadre of deep-pocketed donors and institutions for personnel hires within the commission, many of whom assisted from leadership positions, as she’s pursued a forceful antitrust strategy that mirrors the organizations’ committed goals. The FTC refused to comment for this story. Earlier this year, Khan tapped Sarah Miller, who previously led the American Economic Liberties Project (AELP), an antitrust advocacy group, as a “special adviser.” AELP’s financial backers have included Soros’ Open Society Foundations, Pierre Omidyar’s Omidyar Network and the Ford Foundation. According to tax documents and grant databases, each organization provided AELP between $200,000 and $500,000. Miller is married to former Bernie Sanders aide Faiz Shakir, the founder of another leading antitrust advocacy organization called More Perfect Union (MPU). MPU and its affiliated advocacy arm, More Perfect Union Action, have also received hundreds of thousands in backing from the Soros, Omidyar and Ford networks. When Miller moved to the FTC, her former group, AELP, made her husband Shakir its interim leader. At the time, AELP also elevated former Omidyar Network consultant Nidhi Hedge to its managing director position, a press release on its website stated, underlining the intimacy of the network. Politico reported that Miller was elevated to Khan’s chief of staff in November after acting as her aide. SOROS NONPROFIT DONATED OVER $1M TO GROUP THAT PREVIOUSLY BAILED OUT SUSPECT CHARGED IN DEADLY TEXAS SHOOTINGS “The American Economic Liberties Project is a nonpartisan, independent, mission-oriented organization that does not accept any corporate donations,” Jimmy Wyderko, an AELP spokesperson, told Fox News Digital, adding that their group publishes “original policy research and submits feedback on rules when agencies ask for public comment – as do many other civil society organizations, trade associations, small business owners, and workers.” “We have been glad to see FTC Chair Khan and other enforcers take on the work of serving the public interest on behalf of entrepreneurs, small businesses, consumers, and workers,” Wyderko said. “Sarah Miller is a seasoned policy adviser who has served in multiple roles in the government throughout her career, and we were proud to see her join the FTC.” “For decades, there has been a revolving door between big business and government that has hurt small businesses and working people, and we are glad to see this FTC hire professionals who are dedicated to serving its mission, not former Amazon and Meta lobbyists,” Wyderko continued. The FTC has also looked to another nonprofit called the AI Now Institute, which focuses on artificial intelligence as an antitrust issue. Over the past few years, the agency has quietly enlisted several of its employees as officials at one time or another. The FTC appointed AI Now founder Meredith Whittaker as a “senior adviser on artificial intelligence” in 2021. The following year, Khan brought AI Now’s director of policy and research, Rashida Richardson, aboard as her “attorney adviser.” The FTC appointed at least four other AI Now staffers – Amba Kak, Sarah Myers West, Alejandro Calcaño and Varoon Mathur – to advisory roles. In fact, the FTC had effectively tapped AI Now’s entire organization, as every individual now listed as a “team” member on the group’s website had been called upon to advise the commission in recent years. The FTC initially hired Kak and West for technical and advisory roles without noting work on enforcement matters. However, in August 2022, the FTC amended their job descriptions to include “supporting Bureau staff on cases and enforcement matters” and “collaborating closely with staff and leadership to provide insights on emerging tech issues and market development trends that could lead to enforcement efforts.” SOROS PUSHED $15M TO NONPROFIT LINKED TO BIDEN SUPER PAC TO TEST ‘CRITICAL’ POLICY ISSUES, TAX DOCS REVEAL AI Now has obtained funding from the three progressive networks like the other two organizations. Its website lists just four donors, including Soros’ Open Society Foundations, Omidyar’s network, the Ford Foundation and Luminate, which Pierre and Pam Omidyar established, the Omidyar Group’s website states. The FTC has credited individuals from AI Now that it previously brought on as advisers with helping craft policy and messaging in at least two posts on its website this
Democrat senator blasts ‘failure’ of university leaders to protect Jewish students, asks Biden admin to review
EXCLUSIVE: Democrat Sen. Jacky Rosen is urging Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to take a “comprehensive review” of university harassment policies amid rising antisemitism on college campuses and what she called a “failure” of leadership at those institutions to protect Jewish students. Rosen, D-Nev., penned a letter obtained by Fox News on Wednesday to Cardona to share “significant concerns” on the matter, just days after university presidents testified on Capitol Hill. HARVARD STUDENT PANS UNIVERSITY’S EFFORT TO CLEAN UP STANCE ON JEWISH GENOCIDE: ‘HAD A CHANCE UNDER OATH’ “I write with significant concerns about rising antisemitism at institutions of higher education and the failure of college and university leadership to protect Jewish students from harassment and discrimination,” Rosen wrote. “Jewish Americans across the country were horrified by last week’s hearing in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, where three leading university presidents failed to unequivocally state that calling for the genocide of the Jewish people would inherently violate their schools’ respective harassment policies or codes of conduct.” “In light of this disturbing testimony, and in order to protect students from antisemitic discrimination, I urge the Department of Education to undertake a comprehensive review of college and university harassment policies and codes of conduct to ensure that they comply with federal civil rights requirements for institutions of higher education,” Rosen wrote. ELISE STEFANIK SAYS SHE WAS LEFT ‘SHAKEN’ BY UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS’ ‘PATHETIC’ ANSWERS ABOUT ANTISEMITISM Rosen, citing the Dec. 5 hearing, said lawmakers posed questions regarding campus antisemitism to presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT.) “When asked if ‘calling for the genocide of Jews’ would constitute bullying or harassment under Penn’s code of conduct, then-president Liz Magill answered that it was a ‘context-dependent decision’ and that such a statement would be harassment if ‘the speech turns into conduct,’” Rosen said, citing testimony from the university presidents. “The presidents of Harvard and MIT then gave similar, troubling answers to the same question.” “While all three presidents and their respective universities quickly went into damage control mode in the aftermath of the hearing – and one president even resigned her post – excuses and apologies don’t change the fact that leaders of some of our nation’s top schools refused to publicly acknowledge that calling for the genocide of Jews is harassment,” Rosen continued, adding that this “lack of moral clarity fails students across American college campuses.” Magill resigned from Penn over the weekend. Harvard President Claudine Gay was also under fire, but the university decided not to fire her. Rosen, pointing to the Anti-Defamation League, said there have been “over 400 antisemitic incidents on college and university campuses since Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, compared with 33 antisemitic incidents during the same period last year.” “At a time when Jewish students are experiencing rising antisemitism, schools have a legal responsibility to protect their students from discrimination and harassment,” Rosen said. HARVARD BOARD STANDS BY EMBATTLED PRESIDENT CLAUDINE GAY, ADMITS ‘INADEQUATE CITATION’ IN SOME WRITINGS Rosen, last month, urged the Education Department to remind school administrators of their “responsibility” to protect the students and of the “consequences that will follow if they fail to act.” Rosen applauded the department for doing so, and for its move to implement the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, including the launch of an Antisemitism Awareness Campaign. “However, last week’s hearing is a stark reminder that far more work needs to be done to protect Jewish students on college campuses, including by ensuring their codes of conduct prohibit antisemitic harassment and discrimination,” Rosen said. “As I discussed with Assistant Secretary Catherine Lhamon, just because a student has a First Amendment right to make a harassing statement does not relieve university administrators from their Title VI obligations to protect their students from such harassment.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Rosen again urged Cardona to “undertake a comprehensive review of college and university harassment policies and codes of conduct to ensure that they meet federal civil rights requirements for protecting students from prohibited harassment and discrimination, including antisemitic harassment and discrimination.”
Elon Musk plans to open a new university in Austin
The Tesla CEO and Texas resident’s charitable foundation filed an application to create the new school “dedicated to education at the highest levels.”
Biden ignores reporter questions after son Hunter defies congressional subpoena
President Biden ignored reporter questions on Wednesday shortly after his son, Hunter, defied a congressional subpoena regarding the family’s business dealings. The president’s scheduled news conference before a meeting of his National Infrastructure Advisory Council was delayed for more than an hour Wednesday until Biden made an appearance, walking out to address members of the press gathered to hear the commander in chief speak from the White House. Earlier in the day, Hunter Biden had arrived on Capitol Hill — not to comply with his subpoena and be deposed at the House Oversight Committee — but instead to hold a press conference and again offer to testify publicly. He maintained that his father “was not financially involved” in his business, saying there is “no evidence because it did not happen.” At the White House, President Biden joked with the waiting press to “please say seated,” before staying on script about this administration’s infrastructure initiatives. “Last year I asked this council to ensure that resilience is built into all of our infrastructure projects, including critical sectors like energy, communications, transportation and health care. Together, you delivered, especially on these key challenges,” Biden said. “Today, I’m looking forward to hearing about new projects this council will pursue in the coming years as well. So thank you all for being here. I’m just going to ask the press to step out so we can begin our briefing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” HUNTER BIDEN WILL NOT SIT FOR DEPOSITION BY GOP, SAYS FATHER NOT ‘FINANCIALLY’ INVOLVED IN HIS BUSINESS Fox News’ Peter Doocy could be heard repeatedly shouting to Biden, “Mr. President, did you watch Hunter this morning?” Over the sound of clamoring press, another reporter was heard asking, “Mr. President, should your son have defied the subpoena?” Yet, Biden looked at the press and walked away from the podium. Biden at the top of his brief remarks championed how two years ago he “signed a law once in a generation investment in our nation’s infrastructure and to fix our roads, railroads, bridges, ports, airports, remove every single lead pipe in the country and extend high-speed Internet, advance clean energy, and modernize the electric grid, energy grid.” JOHNSON DEFENDS VOTE TO FORMALIZE BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY AMID WHITE HOUSE ‘IMPASSE’: ‘WE HAVE NO CHOICE’ “Already, we’ve announced over 40,000 projects in 4,500 communities all across our country. And when folks see these big projects in their hometowns, when they see the cranes up in the air, the shovels in the ground, I really think coming from an area that was shut down — up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the steel mill in Claymont, Delaware, I think it brings them hope,” Biden said. “Because it’s not just about building an infrastructure. It’s about building better infrastructure, stronger infrastructure, infrastructure to withstand 21st century challenges from climate change, cyberattacks to natural disasters to foreign threats, and so much more.” The House is expected to vote Wednesday on a resolution to formalize the Biden impeachment inquiry, as Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Republican leadership have accused the White House of “stonewalling” their investigations into the president’s alleged involvement in his son Hunter’s business dealings. On Capitol Hill Wednesday, Hunter Biden “MAGA” Republicans who have “invaded” his privacy, “attacked” his family, and “ridiculed my struggle with addiction.” House Republicans say the Justice Department has refused to allow two attorneys to testify before the House Judiciary Committee. They claim the White House sent House Oversight and Accountability Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., and House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a letter saying they have no intention of complying with GOP subpoenas and requests for interviews without a formal vote, and the National Archives has withheld thousands of pages of documents and emails. Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
Support for Biden impeachment inquiry grows with a notable level of Democrat backing: poll
The support for a possible House impeachment inquiry against President Biden is growing among the American public, with nearly a quarter of Democrats saying they would back such a move, a new poll has found. According to the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released Wednesday, 49% of U.S. adults say they would support the House of Representatives officially launching an impeachment inquiry into Biden amid allegations of corruption within his family, compared to 48% who would not. That number is up from the same survey in October that found 47% supported such a move, and 52% would be opposed. HUNTER BIDEN FACES BACKLASH AFTER DEFYING SUBPOENA WITH PRESS CONFERENCE ‘STUNT’: ‘HOLD HIM IN CONTEMPT!’ An impeachment inquiry is most notably supported by 24% of adults identifying as Democrats, although a majority (74%) would still be opposed. The poll found that Biden’s approval rating remains heavily underwater, with just 40% of adults approving of his job performance as president and 53% saying they did not approve. That number is weighed down heavily by those identifying as independents, with just 36% approving of his job performance and 59% disapproving. CALLS GROW FOR CONGRESS TO SUBPOENA JEFFREY EPSTEIN’S FLIGHT LOGS DESPITE DEMOCRAT ‘STONEWALLING’ Despite being a traditionally reliable Democrat voting bloc, younger voters’ views of Biden also appear to be dragging him down, as just 39% of Gen Z and Millennial voters approve of his job performance, and 50% disapprove. On favorability, Biden edges former President Donald Trump, the current frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, with 40% of adults saying they view Biden favorably compared to just 38% for Trump. Among registered voters, 49% said they would vote for Biden if the 2024 presidential election were held today and 48% said they would vote for Trump. WH SPURNS BIDEN FAMILY ‘CONSPIRACY THEORIES’ AHEAD OF LIKELY IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY VOTE, HUNTER BIDEN DEPOSITION Biden trails Trump among independent voters 45%-50%, but held a surprisingly slight edge among Gen Z and Millennial voters 52%-48%. The poll also asked about a number of hot-button policies, including the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, border security, abortion and gender. On funding for Ukraine amid its war with Russia and Israel for its war against Hamas, 36% said they oppose funding for either nation, and 32% said they support funding both. Sixteen percent said they support only funding Ukraine, and 15% only support funding for Israel. Half of Americans said they would not support allowing any Palestinian refugees from Gaza into the U.S. while 47% said they would support such a move. BIDEN FACES GRIM RE-ELECTION ODDS AS HE TRAILS LEADING GOP CANDIDATES IN TWO KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES: POLL A majority of 54% support building a physical wall at the southern border and 45% said they do not. On transgender issues, a majority of Americans (59%) said they believed whether a person is a man or woman is determined by the gender they were assigned at birth, while 38% said a person can be a man or woman even if it wasn’t the gender they were assigned at birth. When it came to abortion, most Americans (54%) said laws should be determined by individual states, rather than at the national level (43%). If a national law were in place, an overwhelming 84% said they would support exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother, while 14% said they would support no exceptions. On limitations, 21% said abortion should never be allowed, 18% said it should only be allowed in the first six weeks of pregnancy, 21% only in the first 15 weeks, 13% in the first 24 weeks, and 25% said a woman should be able to get an abortion at any point during a pregnancy.
Pennsylvania poised to allow longer school days, shorter weeks
A bill that would give Pennsylvania school districts greater flexibility to have shorter school weeks or longer days, as long as students meet an annual minimum of instructional time, is headed to the governor’s desk for his approval. The legislation passed both chambers unanimously. It changes Pennsylvania law to allow for schools to complete the school year in either a minimum of 180 days or 900 hours at the elementary level and 990 at the secondary level. Currently, schools must do both. PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM SLAMMED BY CRITICS CALLING FOR BOOST IN PUBLIC EDUCATION FUNDING A spokesperson said Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro plans to sign it. Sponsors said Pennsylvania has been one of fewer than 20 states with both minimum day and minimum hour requirements. They argued it has held schools to rigid schedules that do not allow for flexibility in addressing student needs. The bill would give schools the ability to make changes to accommodate weather conditions, professional development and community events, supporters said. It also can help accommodate student apprenticeships, internships, and career and technical education programs. It will also let schools track students who learn remotely through hours of instruction, rather than days.
Palestine’s and Turtle Island’s liberation are entwined
Over the past two months, protest marches in solidarity with the Palestinian people have taken place all across the United States and Canada. They have attracted a diverse crowd of people, including many Indigenous nations and communities. Participants have denounced “US imperialism” for enabling Israeli aggression, ethnic cleansing and genocide while others have charged Israel itself with “settler colonialism”. However, many attendees – especially pro-Palestinian immigrants – have failed to comprehend their own relationship to settler colonialism. Many of us see the US and Canada as secular democracies that provide good economic opportunities and not as settler-colonial societies, serving as the blueprint for Israel. We have ignored our own complicity as settlers. Muslims and South Asian, North African and Arab immigrant settlers must interrogate the legitimacy of America’s and Canada’s right to exist and the costly trade-off they make in taking on national identities in these countries that come at the expense of Indigenous peoples at “home” and imperialist adventurism abroad. Settler-colonial history ignored A significant number of migrant Muslims do not seem to comprehend that American societies are animated by white supremacist religious doctrines such as manifest destiny and doctrines of discovery and terra nullius, Protestant ethics, common law property rights, and Victorian notions of gender and sexuality. Rather, Muslim “arrivants” to the US should consider the history of settler colonialism in the Americas – a history that sees Islamophobia and anti-Indigenous narratives as well as anti-Blackness and anti-Jewishness inextricably bound. In the late 15th century, Christopher Columbus’s conquistador invasion of the Americas commenced as the European Crusading eviction, murder and forced conversion of Muslims and Jews in Andalusia was coming to an end. There, Muslims and Jews were racially and religiously cast as “enemies”, “savages” and “heathens”, an othering that tinted the lens through which Columbus and his successors saw Indigenous peoples in the Americas, describing them as “blood drinkers”, “cannibals” and “devils”. As Alan Mikhel writes in his book God’s Shadow, Columbus described the weapons used by the Indigenous Taíno people of the Caribbean as “alfanjes, the Spanish name for the scimitars used by Muslim soldiers”, while Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés identified 400 Aztec temples in Mexico as “mosques”, described “Aztec women” as “Moorish women” and referred to Montezuma, the Aztec leader, as a “sultan”. Later, in the 16th century, as the transatlantic slave trade got under way, Africans – 20 to 30 percent of whom were Muslims – would become the new “infidels” and “savages”. These were not mere insults but Euro-American Christian religious and racial narratives of dehumanisation that eventually found their way into US religious doctrine, law and settler attitudes. They were used to justify the expropriation of Indigenous land and resources as well as the enslavement and continued “after-life of slavery” projects targeting Black peoples. They also drove the Islamophobia that in recent years has resulted in Muslim bans, unmitigated US government support for Zionist settler colonialism as well as the death and destruction wrought as part of the “war on terror”. Rather than question the US settler-colonial project root and branch, Muslim immigrants have taken it for granted and tried to entrench themselves as “good liberal settlers”, eliding their own settler-colonial complicities, even when they have come from countries ravaged by the effects of imperialist US foreign policy. American nightmare This love for the delusional promise of the “American dream” runs counter to what the selectively quoted anti-American Muslim Malcolm X, referred to as an “American nightmare” and exists despite a surge in recent years of Indigenous activism as well as a vast body of scholarship in Indigenous, Palestinian and comparative settler-colonial studies. This activism and work help us understand that the US’s imperial commitments abroad are informed by the violence it has wreaked against Black peoples and Indigenous peoples in North America – or what the latter refer to as Turtle Island. As Eve Tuck, professor of critical race and Indigenous studies at the University of Toronto, and K Wayne Yang, professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, San Diego, wrote in a paper titled Decolonization is not a Metaphor: “Oil is the motor and motive for war and so was salt, so will be water. Settler sovereignty over the very pieces of earth, air, and water is what makes possible these imperialisms. … ‘Indian Country’ was/is the term used in Viet Nam, Afghanistan, Iraq by the U.S. military for ‘enemy territory’.” A case in point is the Iraq war. Critics and some US officials were adamant that the war – spearheaded by Vice President Dick Cheney, a former CEO of oil giant Halliburton – was intended to benefit big oil. However, it was missed that US fighter jets, cruise missiles and armoured vehicles could not have descended on Iraq in 2003 without the fuel derived from abundant oil supplies tapped from Indigenous lands, which today makes the US the world’s largest oil producer and, by far, the largest polluter. Indigenous-led NoDAPL protests in 2016 against the Dakota Access Pipeline, which was set to run close to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation were a missed opportunity for Muslim and pro-Palestinian activists to centre and draw deeper connections between settler colonialism at home and abroad. Another blatant instance of the relationship between settler colonialism at home and abroad is at Cornell University, the Ivy League institution where I was a visiting scholar last year and which has also been a hub of pro-Palestinian activism in recent weeks. Set among the bucolic countryside of upstate New York and flush with waterfalls, gorges and evergreens, Cornell is regarded as the largest university land grab in US history and the single largest beneficiary of the 1862 Morrill Act, which saw 10.7 million acres (4.3 million hectares) stolen from 250 different Indigenous peoples in 15 states and handed over to universities. In this, Cornell accrues benefits from the principal revenue and capital of the land as well as surface extraction rights involving minerals, resources, mining and water. Cornell University is also partnered with Technion-Israel Institute of Technology,