“In March 2023, a group of House Republicans launched a new Anti-Woke Caucus to ‘root out all far-left political programs from the federal government’ — including those focused on ensuring diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, in both hiring and workplace practices. The group wants to ‘protect taxpayer’s [sic] from being forced to fund woke and divisive ideologies.’ Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) chairs the caucus, which has 26 members, half of whom are also members of the far-right, obstructionist House Freedom Caucus. The major difference between the two special interest groups is that the more radical Freedom Caucus seeks to completely change the direction and approach of the House GOP, which it believes is too accommodating to Democrats and the few moderate Republicans still in office.” (04/18/24)
“An incredible thing happened this week. A whopping 2.45 million people watched the WNBA draft Monday, as University of Iowa shooting sensation Caitlin Clark — dressed in head-to-toe Prada, the only time the label has ever dressed an athlete for a basketball draft — was selected first overall by the Indiana Fever. Last year, an audience of 500,000 tuned in — that’s nearly a 500% increase in viewers. And they all seemed shocked to learn the truth about WNBA salaries, especially rookie ones. Despite her captivating play, astounding range and marketing prowess, Clark will only earn $338,056 over four years: $76,535 annually. … ‘For somebody who is now the face of women’s basketball, it seemed kind of ridiculous,’ Hoda Kotb said on the ‘Today’ show, adding that it was ‘disturbing’ and ‘like picking at an old scab for many women.'” (04/18/24)
“The US and UK have imposed a new wave of sanctions against Iran, following its drone attack on Israel. Washington targeted 16 people and two entities that produce engines for the drones. The UK Foreign Office imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on seven individuals and six entities, including those involved in drone and missile programmes. Both countries already have hundreds of sanctions in place against Iran. The latest move follows Israel’s call for support from the international community after Iran’s direct assault on Saturday, involving more than 300 missiles and drones fired from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Almost all were downed by Israel and its allies. Tehran has maintained the attack was in retaliation for a presumed Israeli air strike on its consulate in Syria on 1 April, in which 13 people were killed.” (04/18/24)
“A Russian scientist who worked on hypersonic technologies was handed a seven-year jail sentence on Thursday for treason after he was accused of passing state secrets to foreign nationals. A representative for St Petersburg’s court system said Alexander Kuranov, 76, would be sent to a high-security prison and fined 100,000 roubles ($1,000). At the time of his arrest in 2021, Kuranov was the general director of St Petersburg-based Hypersonics Systems Research Facility, where he oversaw work on a new version of a Soviet-era hypersonic aircraft dubbed Ayaks. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that Russia is a world leader in hypersonic missiles – cutting-edge weapons capable of carrying payloads at up to 10 times the speed of sound to punch through air-defence systems.” (04/18/24)
“Sometimes a potentially seismic shift in the law is masked by opaque and technical legalese. So it was last week, when a federal court of appeals in Washington struggled to decide whether a nongovernmental organization that seeks to improve democratic elections was sufficiently injured—making it eligible for so-called standing to sue—to have its day in court to enforce a never-used provision of the Constitution. The 435 seats in the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states according to their population as determined by the decennial census. If the NGO is successful, some of those apportioned seats could be taken away from states that prevent citizens from exercising their right to vote. But though this possibility has been outlined in the Constitution for 156 years, most everything about this case, which attempts to actually utilize it, is uncertain.” (04/18/24)
“Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, revealed Thursday she has been suspended from Barnard College over her involvement in anti-Israel protests on Columbia University’s campus. ‘I’m an organizer with CU Apartheid Divest @ColumbiaSJP, in my 3 years at @BarnardCollege I have never been reprimanded or received any disciplinary warnings,’ the 21-year-old wrote on X. ‘I just received notice that I am 1 of 3 students suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide.’ Hirsi and the two other students – identified as Maryam Iqbal and Soph Dinu — received notice of their suspension from Barnard Dean, Leslie Grinage, first thing Thursday morning, the Apartheid Divest said in a statement.” (04/18/24)
“Over 112,000 Americans overdosed in 2023. Over 70,000 overdosed on fentanyl, a particularly dangerous synthetic opioid. While it’s easy to focus on numbers, we can’t forget that these aren’t statistics. They’re people. They leave behind parents, brothers, sisters and children. They’re futures lost. They’re lives squandered. We owe it to victims of this epidemic to do everything we can to curb the flow of fentanyl from overseas (where the vast majority of it originates) into American cities and towns. This poison is a direct threat to the security of America’s citizens. And, though America’s borders are a point of grave concern, they are also the best opportunity we have to seize fentanyl and damage the cartels responsible. And here, there is good news.” (04/18/24)
“As the United Nations Security Council prepares to vote Thursday on Palestine’s bid to become a full U.N. member, the Biden administration (which claims to support Palestinian statehood) is lobbying UNSC nations in an effort to wrangle enough ‘no’ votes so that the United States can avoid resorting to a veto. Leaked cables obtained by The Intercept show U.S. pressure on Security Council members including Malta (which currently presides over the body) and Ecuador. While claiming that President Joe Biden backs ‘Palestinian aspirations for statehood,’ one of the cables asserts that ‘it remains the U.S. view that the most expeditious path toward a political horizon for the Palestinian people is in the context of a normalization agreement between Israel and its neighbors.'” (04/17/24)
“More than a dozen House Democrats voted against a resolution condemning Iran’s airstrikes on Israel Thursday. The resolution, which also affirms U.S. support for Israel responding to the attack however it deems necessary, overwhelmingly passed 404 to 14. Just one House Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voted against the bill. Fox News Digital reached out to Massie for comment. Massie was joined by 13 Democrats, including ‘Squad’ member Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Cori Bush, D-Mo.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y.; and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass. Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., was also among those opposing the bill. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the No. 3 House GOP leader, tore into the Democrats who voted against condemning Iran in a statement to Fox News Digital after the vote.” (04/18/24)
“The Left in the United States is arguably at a point of greater political power today than at almost any time in the past century. More than 100 open socialists hold office across the country, from Tacoma, Wash., to St. Petersburg, Fla., from school boards to the halls of Congress. But no advance comes without a counterattack, and the same context that has opened the space for a resurgent Left over the past decade also holds the conditions that could close that space for a generation. We look back at the post-war era as the moment that created the modern world order, and the deep contradictions involved then are reasserting themselves as we travel into uncertain times — with new economies and politics buttressed by broken institutions on a crumbling foundation.” (04/16/24)
