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‘Rather Despicable’: John Eastman Speaks Out After Bank Of America, USAA Shut Down His Accounts

April 18, 2024/in Culture War, Economy, Elections, Hot Topics, News, Policy, Politics, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by The Daily Caller

One of the left’s biggest political targets recently found himself “de-banked” with no warning and little avenue for recourse, the Daily Caller has learned.

John Eastman, once an attorney for former President Donald Trump, was de-banked twice in the span of several months by two prominent financial institutions, Bank of America and USAA, he told the Daily Caller. His accounts were closed as he faced substantial backlash for his work advising Trump around the time of the 2020 election.

Eastman said he had switched most of his banking from Bank of America to USAA, a company that provides financial services exclusively to military veterans as well as their families, due to the former’s “wokeness.” Both corporations are federally insured, and Bank of America was bailed out with billions of dollars in taxpayer funds during the global financial crisis.

Bank of America alerted Eastman in September of 2023 that it would be closing his accounts, a letter obtained by the Daily Caller shows. Shortly thereafter, USAA notified Eastman in November that his two bank accounts with the company would be closed, a separate letter shows.

“And then two months later, we get a similar letter from USAA saying that they’ve decided that they’re going to close your account and they did like three weeks later,” Eastman told the Daily Caller. “And so that was where all of our automatic payments were coming out of, all our automatic deposits. So it was a real pain to shift everything. We had to get a new bank account opened and shift everything over.”

Eastman was notified of his USAA accounts being closed on Nov. 20, 2023. A few weeks prior, a California judge made a preliminary decision saying that Eastman was culpable of ethics violations in a state bar disciplinary case, CNN reported.

USAA claimed in its letter that it was “exercising its right to no longer do banking business” with Eastman per its “Depository Agreement.”

“We may close your account for any reason without advance notice. We may require you to give us a minimum of seven (7) calendar days advance written notice when you intend to close your account by withdrawing your funds,” a section of the agreement reads.

USAA did not respond to the Daily Caller’s multiple requests for comment.

When Eastman inquired about the closures, the banks said it was their policy to not provide any more information on the matter, he told the Daily Caller. An audio recording of Eastman’s call to Bank of America, provided to the Daily Caller, reflects as much.

LISTEN:

“De-banking” is a phenomenon in which financial institutions refuse financial service to the targets of political activism, who often end up being conservatives.

“What these banks are doing is they’re saying you’re either high risk, or we don’t want to do business with you, or whatever it is. There’s no methodology behind this. There’s no kind of reason that matches traditional indicators or traditional metrics that a bank would use to calculate your liquidity, your credit score, whatever it is. They’re using these non-financial factors, and then making these decisions and just like closing people’s accounts,” Eric Bledsoe, an expert on de-banking for the Foundation for Government Accountability, told the Daily Caller.

In typical de-banking situations, it is normal for the banks to withhold their reason for suddenly closing their clients’ accounts, Bledsoe added.

Eastman told the Daily Caller he was using the accounts he had set up with Bank of America and USAA for personal finances. He and his wife qualified for USAA bank accounts because his father-in-law served in the Navy in WWII and in the Marines in the Korean War, the attorney told the Daily Caller.

“We had Bank of America accounts for about 40 years. But just because of their wokeness we kind of quit a couple of years ago, using them much. They’ve got physical locations and therefore easy ATM, so we kept our accounts there, but we didn’t use much. And about four or five years ago, we opened USAA bank accounts and we were using those as our primaries,” Eastman said.

The Daily Caller reached out to the Bank of America for comment, giving the corporation multiple days to respond. Bank of America initially told the Caller it would answer, though about an hour before the deadline provided, the company decided not to comment.

“Just as a general policy, we don’t comment on client matters. So I don’t have a comment at this point on the situation,” Bill Haldin, from Bank of America media relations, told the Daily Caller after asking if the focus of the story was solely on Eastman.

Bledsoe spoke to the political nature of de-banking and how it can make Americans’ lives harder.

“I’m gravely concerned. It really is the kind of next step in [Environmental, Social and Governance]. So ESG across the board, it really is about like, re-directing capital away from the politically disfavored and to the politically favored at the moment, without going through the political process at all,” Bledsoe said.

Neither bank specified to Eastman whether the closing of his accounts was for political reasons, though he has his suspicions.

“I’m 99.9% confident,” he said. “What I don’t know is whether they didn’t want to do business with me, or whether they didn’t want to continue to be hassled by federal regulators for doing business with me. I don’t know which of those two it is, either one of them is rather despicable.”

Eastman’s confidence could, in part, be attributed to the litany of challenges he has faced following the 2020 presidential election.

Since Eastman argued that Vice President Mike Pence had the power to help deliver Trump the 2020 presidential election, the attorney has seen his life be uprooted by his opponents. Just days after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, Eastman resigned as a law professor from Fowler School of Law at Chapman University after the school faced pressure to oust him, Forbes reported. In a statement of his own, Eastman said he had “mixed feelings” about resigning, though the school said the pair had reached an agreement on the matter.

Then, at the end of that month, the University of Colorado’s Benson Center for Western Civilization banned Eastman from speaking at the institution despite being a visiting scholar, according to Forbes.

“The University of Colorado Boulder relieved John Eastman of duties related to outreach and speaking as a representative of the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization,” the institution said in a press release.

Nearly a year later, in June 2022, FBI agents seized Eastman’s phone as he was leaving a restaurant, the Associated Press reported. Eastman and his wife have also experienced death threats, graffiti threats in their neighborhood and have had spikes planted in their driveway, his friend Josh Hammer wrote in a column.

A number of red state attorneys general — including from Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana and Montana — voiced their opposition to the de-banking trend after the Daily Caller laid out Eastman’s situation. Many of the state AGs pointed to politics as a potential reason Eastman’s accounts were closed.

“No American should lose their bank account because banks want to play politics. Time and time again, we are seeing banks target and cut off those they disagree with and refuse to explain why. That is unacceptable,” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird told the Daily Caller.

“De-banking contradicts the very character of our nation, as elites wrongfully use their power to punish their political opponents. Here’s the bottom line: If financial institutions are punishing consumers who don’t fall in line with their political beliefs, that could constitute a violation of both state and federal law,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey told the Daily Caller.

Now, Eastman is being prosecuted by Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis as part of her case against Trump. On March 27, a California judge ruled that Eastman should be disbarred due to his legal advice in the wake of the 2020 election. The case will now move to the state Supreme Court for a final decision.

“I just think this is a terrible trend. I think it’s harmful. I think it prohibits people from bringing their values and the public square into the marketplace. And they have every constitutional right under the Free Exercise clause to bring their values into the marketplace. And I think this is also I think this is something we’re just gonna have to fight against,” Sam Brownback, an attorney and former U.S. Senator whose Christian non-profit was de-banked, told the Daily Caller.

AUTHOR

REAGAN REESE

White House correspondent. Follow Reagan on Twitter.

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An In-Depth Look at Hamas-Linked CAIR’s ‘FATAL: The Resurgence of Anti-Muslim Hate’ Report

April 18, 2024/in Commentary, Culture War, Elections, Hot Topics, National Security, News, Policy, Politics, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by Jihad Watch

In the lead to the story “Ceasefire Protest Turns Violent,” KGO ABC7 anchor Dan Ashley tells his audience that victims say that what happened to them is part of an alarming trend. But the victims don’t actually say that. Reporter Lena Howland says that, and gratuitously brings up a report from the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Before taking an in depth look at CAIR’s report, let us gain a perspective on what violence looks like.

Violence, and hostility involves such actions as attacking police, blocking traffic, disrupting holiday celebrations, threatening to murder elected officials, threatening to negatively influence elections, engaging in mob action, and supporting a terrorist organization.

It is also important to understand that CAIR is playing word games. The “pro-Palestine” events are really pro-Hamas and anti-Israel. The “pro-Palestinians” are not interested in peace. They would never dream of pressuring Hamas to surrender, or of calling for the release of the hostages in order to stop the co-called “genocide.” They are analogous to calling for a ceasefire with Nazi Germany during World War II.

So let us look at CAIR’s claims of a crisis level of hate in its new report, “FATAL: The Resurgence of Anti-Muslim Hate.”

From the “Hate Crimes” section of the CAIR report:

California: A man allegedly tried to murder members of the Muslim community at a park in Rancho Cordova in August. The man reportedly tried to run over Muslim community members of South Asian heritage while yelling racial slurs and allegedly threatening to “shoot and bomb” them. The suspect was reportedly arrested on two felonies and a hate crime charge.

This man may be mentally ill. Just hours earlier, he had an “disturbance” at a liquor store, is a registered sex offender, and with the help of his family, surrendered to police twelve hours after driving through the park. This is an isolated incident that happened in August, and is in no way caused by Israeli violence.

California: An Arab Muslim student at Stanford University was reportedly targeted in a hit-and run on campus in November. The driver had reportedly made eye contact with the student and accelerated and hit him, after which the driver reportedly yelled “f*** you and your people.” The student, who was hospitalized following the incident, reports having seen the driver at a pro-Palestinian rally in the month before the incident. The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office reportedly opened a hate crime investigation into the incident.

Hamas violence and support for Hamas here at home might be the cause of this incident.

District of Columbia: A Muslim and Palestinian woman was reportedly threatened by a man while riding the D.C. Metro in October. The woman had been riding the Metro on her way to a demonstration for Palestinian rights when a man reportedly asked her, “How’d you like to lose your life?” On video, the man is then heard asking the woman, “How’d you like to have your head beheaded?” According to the victim and witnesses, the man also reportedly possessed a firearm, which he slightly removed from his pocket. He allegedly made other aggressive remarks toward the woman and her acquaintances before leaving the train. Law enforcement reportedly refused to investigate the incident.

The man was challenging the woman about her support for Hamas, and the police are not considering it a hate incident.

District of Columbia: A Palestinian staff member at American University reportedly received a hateful death threat slipped under his office door in October. The note said, in part, “You might get lucky with a missile and meet your Allah sooner! Death to all Palestinians!” A complaint to CAIR offices reports that the staff member has not received adequate security and protection from American University administrators following the incident. The American University Police Department and federal law enforcement are reportedly investigating the threat.

Somehow, after CAIR tells us that they have evidence of a deluge of hate in this country, we are left expecting more. Remember that with over 8,000 complaints to choose from, this is what CAIR shares with us.

Illinois: In October, six-year-old Palestinian-American boy Wadea Al-Fayoume was stabbed and murdered by his family’s landlord in Chicago. According to his mother, who was also attacked, the landlord yelled “you Muslims must die!” before attempting to choke and stab her. After she attempted to call for law enforcement, she found that the landlord had stabbed her six-year-old son to death. The landlord has been indicted by a grand jury on first-degree murder, attempted murder, battery, and hate crime charges.

Wadea Al-Fayoume was murdered on October 13, nearly 2 weeks before Israel responded to the attack by Hamas. This is a tragic story, but the fact remains that Wadea was killed in response to Hamas violence.

Illinois: A man reportedly threatened to shoot two Muslim men after allegedly shouting anti-Muslim statements in October. The man reportedly approached one of the victims, who had arrived in his vehicle to an apartment complex to meet with a friend, and began shouting obscenities that targeted his Muslim faith and telling him he didn’t belong in the country. The man then allegedly punched the first victim’s car window before going into the lobby of the apartment building, where he encountered the second victim and threatened to beat him. A short time later, one of the victims was sitting on the bench outside the building when the man reportedly lifted one side of the bench such that the victim fell off. The man reportedly told the two victims that he called four of his friends to come and shoot them. A hate crime charge was reportedly brought against the man in October.

This is an isolated incident, not connected to anything beyond the attacker.

New Jersey: A Princeton University staffer allegedly assaulted protestors for Palestinian human rights in October. The staff member was reportedly seen yelling at protestors, making obscene gestures, and filming them. She is also seen grabbing another protestor’s phone and running off with it, apparently pulling the protestor’s hair in the process.

Again, another incident not connected to anything except opposition to support for Hamas.

New York: In 2016, an Uber driver was reportedly attacked by his passengers, two intoxicated men. One passenger punched the driver in the jaw and both hurled expletives and racial slurs at him. As a result of the attack, the client suffered a fractured elbow and a dislocated neck, among other injuries. In May 2023, after years of litigation, and with the assistance of co-counsel at Cravath, Swaine and Moore, LLP, CAIR-NY secured a six-figure settlement for the client.

2016? CAIR should have plenty of material to choose from in 2023. This entry should be dismissed out of hand.

North Carolina: A Muslim member of the North Carolina Democratic Party was reportedly subjected to Islamophobic remarks by other party members. Following his public support of Palestinian human rights in 2022, other party members reportedly spread Islamophobic remarks about him, reportedly including the claim that he may be an “Iranian spy.” In early 2023, the man made a complaint to party leadership, which he claims was not addressed in a timely manner. In late 2023, CAIR sent a letter on his behalf, requesting that party leadership investigate and address his complaint.

Another irrelevant entry from CAIR that is not part of its 8,000 complaints in 2023; it is from 2022.

Ohio: A man reportedly targeted Arab, Palestinian, and Muslim students at Cleveland State University for their pro-Palestine human rights activism in early 2023. The man had previously been accused of reportedly cyberharassing Palestinian students or students with pro-Palestinian views the previous year, after which a CSU student reportedly filed a protection order against him, which was granted. However, in January, the man reportedly returned to campus and stole the banner belonging to the CSU student organization Students for Palestinian Human Rights. He was also arrested by CSU police in January for reportedly violating the protection order. In February, he was reportedly banned from the campus, and in July, he reportedly entered a plea to reduce his charges and was sentenced to probation, a community orientation program, and anger management classes

Another isolated incident that is connected only to general opposition to support for Hamas in America.

Ohio: In October, a man driving a truck reportedly physically and verbally assaulted participants in a pro-Palestine march in Columbus. While members of student organizations and community supporters conducted a peaceful march in downtown Columbus, the man reportedly began shouting obscenities about Palestinians and then swerved out of his lane to hit a demonstrator on a bike. A suspect was reportedly taken into custody.

Many people might conclude that this assault was a reaction to public support for Hamas in this country. But CAIR is again trying to blame Israel for this.

Pennsylvania: In October, a man reportedly brandished a firearm against Muslims at a pro-Palestine protest at the footsteps of the Pennsylvania State Capitol. The rally had been organized by the Central Pennsylvania Committee of Masajid, a network of mosques and Islamic organizations. The man reportedly approached the crowd in his vehicle, started yelling racial slurs, and then pointed a gun at the protestors. The suspect has reportedly been taken into custody and faces a felony count of ethnic intimidation and misdemeanor charges of making terroristic threats and simple assault by physical menace.

But the police did not charge him with a hate crime.

CAIR’s report is an embarrassment for the organization. More than half of its evidence of hate crimes in 2023 are either irrelevant, or are not considered to be hate crimes by the police. None of these incidents seem to be inspired by “Israeli violence,” but rather by Hamas violence. And this is the cream of the crop out of more than 8,000 incidents?

Let’s look further into CAIR’s report.

Despite CAIR’s claims of an overwhelming number of complaints, they include incidents from previous years such as 2019 (pg. 17), 2021 (pg. 22), and 2020 (pg. 30).

There were a concerning number of attacks on mosques last year, but all of them were committed by mentally ill people (pg. 18).

CAIR brings up the King Khalid Mosque in North Carolina, which has been closed since the pandemic. It is the property of Shaw University, and does not belong to CAIR, which wants the mosque reopened. This is not a hate incident. (pg.18)

An eighth-grade student from Corona Del Mar Middle and High School was allegedly suspended for saying “Free Palestine” in November (pg. 19).

This is not a hate incident.

Oklahoma: In September, Oklahoma State Superintendent announced an ongoing partnership with Prager University (PragerU). PragerU is known for being a right-wing educational website that has produced videos spreading anti-Muslim rhetoric and conspiracy theories. In one such video, the host reportedly claims that “Islam is not a religion of peace.” (pg. 21)

They are referring to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an ex-Muslim whom CAIR has repeatedly tried to censor. This is not evidence of an epidemic of hate.

Maryland: In November, a Muslim teacher was placed on administrative leave reportedly due to her email signature tagline, which expressed support for Palestinians. (pg. 23)

Her email signature was “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” This is inappropriate for work, and she was suspended from her job at the school. That is not hate.

Michigan: In April, a female Muslim student was reportedly rejected from an internship interview after declining to shake hands with the CEO of PGF Technology Group Inc. due to her religious beliefs. The student had reportedly refused to shake hands with the CEO because of her sincerely held religious beliefs. (pg. 23)

Again, this is not “hate,” but it is definitely ridiculous.

Minnesota: In October, two Muslim students at Edina High School reported that they were suspended for three days following their participation in a walkout for Palestinian human rights. The students reportedly participated in chanting common pro-Palestinian phrases. (pg.23)

This is inappropriate conduct at school, and again is not hate.

Florida: In October, the Chancellor of the State University System of Florida issued an order deactivating Students for Justice in Palestine chapters across the state. (pg. 23)

SJP is a thuggish pro-Hamas group, and banning them from campus is not “hate.”

California: A newly-arrived Afghan-Muslim teenager was shot twice and hospitalized after a police shooting in January. (pg. 29)

This is about an Afghan family having a knife fight outside their residence in Tracy, California. When the police arrived, one of the family advanced on the police holding a knife. CAIR contributed nothing to this except to say the police needed “cultural sensitivity training.” The police need the training, not the Afghans.

And so on.

All of CAIR’s reports are like this. CAIR’s “Hate” reports do not stand up to scrutiny.

CAIR’s reports are not meant to be read, and “FATAL: The Resurgence of Anti-Muslim Hate” is one of the best examples of this basic fact.

Please use this information when complaining to TV stations about presenting CAIR’s fictitious report as news.

AUTHOR

LARRY ESTAVAN

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Ex-TikTok Employee Alleges American Executives Were ‘Completely Complicit’ In Giving ‘U.S. Data To China’

April 18, 2024/in Culture War, Cyberwarfare, Economy, Elections, Hot Topics, National Security, News, Social Issues, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by The Daily Caller

U.S.-based TikTok executives were totally “complicit” in efforts to hand over Americans’ data to China despite company assertions to the contrary, a former senior data scientist at the social media platform alleged, according to Fortune.

The House of Representatives passed legislation in March that would compel Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell TikTok for the social media app to continue operating in the United States because of the potential national security threats of its ownership. Evan Turner, a former senior data scientist who worked for the popular app in 2022 from April to September, alleged TikTok hid the participation of ByteDance in the app’s operations during his tenure, which overlapped with an initiative intended to solve the issue of Chinese data access, Fortune reported Monday.

Other ex-TikTok workers interviewed spoke of the progress TikTok has made to separate itself from its China-based parent and segregate U.S. user data from China.

— Alexandra Sternlicht (@iamsternlicht) April 15, 2024

“I literally worked on a project that gave U.S. data to China,” Turner told Fortune. “They were completely complicit in that. There were Americans that were working in upper management that were completely complicit in this.”

Turner first reported to a Beijing-based ByteDance executive but the company then announced Project Texas, a $1.5 billion initiative to establish an isolated unit to safeguard American data, leading him to receive a documented reassignment to a Seattle manager, he told Fortune. However, a human resources representative acknowledged Turner would persist in collaborating with the ByteDance executive.

The former senior data scientist participated in short meetings with the ByteDance executive on a weekly basis, where he would provide rudimentary updates on his progress with key assignments, Fortune reported.

Turner was allegedly required to send spreadsheets containing hundreds of thousands of American TikTok users’ data, including names, emails and locations to ByteDance staff every 14 days, he told Fortune. The project’s intention was to use the data to learn trends to make users more hooked on the app, and it occurred after Project Texas launched.

Fortune interviewed 11 ex-employees, many alleging TikTok’s operations were connected to ByteDance to an extent while they worked there despite the company’s claims it was prohibiting the Chinese parent company from having access. Some of the former employees spoke anonymously because of concerns of revenge against them, according to the outlet.

Managers within TikTok were directing employees to send similar data to ByteDance, bypassing authorized channels, according to current and previous employees as well as company records The Wall Street Journal saw in January. Executives believe it is crucial to distribute the data supposedly protected by Project Texas to ByteDance because it controls TikTok’s algorithm, individuals with knowledge of the project’s unit told the WSJ.

TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s response for comment.

AUTHOR

JASON COHEN

Contributor.

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Trans-Identifying Female Boxer KO’d in 21 Seconds by Biological Male

April 18, 2024/in Culture War, Elections, Hot Topics, Must Read, News, Policy, Politics, Social Issues, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by Family Research Council

April showers bring May flowers, as the saying goes, and there’s seemingly a shower of men dominating in women’s sports that has yet to cease. What has bloomed as a result? Social outrage.

Two recent events are surfacing in news outlets, in which many have argued serve as further examples of why men should not be competing in women’s sports (and vice versa). On Saturday, trans-identifying runner Aayden Gallagher nearly blew his female competitors out of the water during the 2024 Sherwood Need For Speed Classic track competition in Oregon. The biological male finished the 200-meter race in a time of 25.49 – roughly two seconds ahead of the other runners — a sizeable margin in the realm of track and field.

In a different heat, Gallagher barely came in second behind female runner Aster Jones. But despite losing his hold on first place, it’s notable that Gallagher hit the “fifth fastest time ever run in the state’s girls 200m,” and the “fourth fastest time ever run in the Oregon girls’ 400m,” The Post Millennial reported. But to make an accurate comparison against male-born athletes, PM continued, “Gallegher’s 200m time would have earned 61st place among the male athletes and 46th in the 400m.”

The online rage sparked by these circumstances were partly due to Gallagher specifically, but also by the bigger picture of men being able to compete in women’s sports in the first place. As the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) shared on X, “Championing boys in girls’ sports is blatant misogyny.” Libs of TikTok, a prominent conservative social media presence, also posted on X, “These high school girls just had their dream stolen from them because the school is catering the delusions of a boy who pretends to be a girl.” Gallagher “is a cheater,” the post stated.

One X user responded to that post, “This man is not just a cheater, he’s a criminal. He’s stolen from girls their opportunity for fair competition and to have a bright future in sports.” Another wrote, “One day, future generations will look back on this with pain, wondering how humanity ever got to this point. Such a sad situation.” And amid several other angry comments, one sobering comment read, “When will parents of girls get sick of their daughters taking second place?”

On the flip side of this social controversy is boxer Patricio Manuel, formerly known as Patricia. The biological female recently became the first trans-identifying pro boxer to compete in the men’s division. Before her transition in 2013, Manuel competed in the U.S. women’s Olympic Trial, but had to take a step back due to a shoulder injury. According to The Daily Mail, “Manuel was a five-time national amateur women’s boxing champion.” But eleven years later, she started boxing with the big boys. Literally.

While the female boxer had recorded three consecutive wins, the fight during the Golden Boy Fight Night in California on April 4 put an end to the streak. Manuel went up against her male opponent, Joshua Brian Reyes, and was knocked out within 21 seconds. Media Research Center (MRC) posed the question, “Ever wonder why you never hear stories about women who believe they’re men stealing actual men’s sports trophies and championships?” To which they concluded, “That’s because it doesn’t happen.” And as many have argued, this topic shouldn’t be up to debate.

Macy Petty, an NCAA volleyball player and former Family Research Council intern, warned, “[The Biden] administration continues to reduce sex-based competition to arbitrary hormone levels,” she shared with The Washington Stand. But “women are so much more than a hormone level, and our sports should reflect our unique design.”

According to Petty, “The female league is not a B league, or simply a league for athletes with particular hormone levels. It is a league specifically created for women to embrace the potentials of their God-created design.” She continued, “Male intrusion not only disrupts the protection of female opportunity but attacks the very design of male and female.” And it appears it’s not just men in women’s sports that causes controversy, as Manuel’s case demonstrates.

Petty concluded, “Male athletes beating women by seconds in track competition is a true mockery of the intentionality distinguishing the sexes. [And] in many cases, such as boxing, it places women directly in harm’s way.” But many have joined Petty in the pleas of keeping men and women’s sports distinct, including “over a dozen female athletes [who] are suing the National Collegiate Athletics Association for letting transgender athletes compete against them and use female locker rooms in college sports.”

The question is: will high school athletes and their parents follow suit?

AUTHOR

Sarah Holliday

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Nike Stocks Still Tanking a Year after Mulvaney Partnership

April 17, 2024/in Culture War, Economy, Hot Topics, News, Policy, Politics, Science, Social Issues/by Family Research Council

A lot has happened since Dylan Mulvaney pranced around his yard in a Nike sports bra last April. Days after his face appeared on Bud Light cans — the controversy that launched a thousand boycotts — the sight of him doing jumping jacks in women’s workout gear was almost worst. And a stock chart that looks like a downhill ski slope proves it. Months after the country protested with a bonfire of bra burning, the only swoosh Nike hears now is the sound of profits gushing.

While Bud Light hogged most of the spotlight with its historic collapse, the devastation of Nike’s trans advocacy is real. By August of last year, the brand of Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods was experiencing what experts called “its biggest losing streak since 1980.” With catastrophic losses — upwards of $13 billion dollars in market value — consumer outrage was packing a serious punch.

Angry women led the charge, lashing out at the company as an insult to females everywhere. “The ad feels like a parody of what women are. … That Nike would do this feels like a kick in the teeth,” one posted. Others blasted the brand for making a “mockery out of women,” vowing never to buy another thing from a company that chose a man “over all the hardworking women who workout regularly in your activewear.” It’s “absolutely disgusting.” Most people just couldn’t understand the marketing logic. “Why doesn’t Nike pay a real women to promote a product that is solely for women?” they wanted to know.

Almost a year later, the pressure hasn’t let up. Market analysts have been shocked by the company’s inability to rebound, a nosedive they wrongly assumed was temporary. According to Yahoo Finance, Nike’s stock is down 11.3% since the beginning of the year, and it’s trading “26.1% below its 52-week high.” And while experts are blaming everything from weak overseas demand to slowing sales and pricing challenges, their theories miss the most important reality: shoppers won’t put up with social extremism anymore. LGBT activism, the kind flaunted by Mulvaney and embraced by tone-deaf board rooms, continues to be the kiss of death to corporate profitability.

A long line of woke CEOs can testify to that — including Anheuser-Busch, Target, Disney, Planet Fitness, RipCurl, and Doritos (although the latter two took the bold step of apologizing and course-correcting). Nike, on the other hand, only dug in — a decision that forced them to lay off 1,600 people in February, with a second round of cuts expected in May.

Nike boss John Donahoe has called the company’s downturn “a painful reality and not one that I take lightly.” “We are currently not performing at our best, and I ultimately hold myself and my leadership team accountable,” he said, leaving out any mention of the poor decisions that put Nike in this position in the first place.

Unfortunately, the company has a long and frustrating history of political activism. Millions of customers called it quits on Nike after their endorsement of anti-American quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who, along with disrespecting our national anthem, persuaded the company to shelve its patriotic shoes. They were the first sports retailer to fan the flames of racial tension during the George Floyd riots, voicing support for controversial groups like Black Lives Matter. They’ve fought against religious freedom in adoption bills, girls sports and privacy, even launched a special trans line of clothing called Be True.

Most egregiously, Nike was one of the few brands openly using slave labor to stitch their iconic shoes together. A 2020 expose from The Washington Post talked about the Uyghurs who were spared China’s concentration camps only to hunch over tables sewing Nike’s logo on an endless line of shoes — up to seven million pairs a year.

“Everyone knows they didn’t come here of their own free will,” a Chinese woman told reporter Anna Fifield at the time. “They were brought here … because they didn’t have an option. The government sent them here.” It’s how the Chinese government is “exporting the punitive culture and ethos of Xinjiang’s ‘reeducation camps’ to factories across China,” one expert told the Post.

Incredibly, when a bipartisan bill threatened to outlaw the use of slave labor for American companies, ending our country’s role in these human rights atrocities, Nike fought to kill it. Company spokesmen denied that, responding to The New York Times allegations that they were only in “constructive conversations” with lawmakers. But even today, three years after Joe Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the Canadian government is investigating complaints that Nike is still using slave laborers in Xinjiang, which they consider a “crime against humanity.”

Now, a year into their Dylan Mulvaney fiasco, the Oregon-based headquarters is reaping the whirlwind. Instead of taking their foot off the gas of an agenda Americans have so clearly rejected, Nike is stubbornly leaning into the radicalism that’s bankrupting other brands. At a time when almost 300 companies are backing off their LGBT advocacy, Nike scored a perfect 100% on the Human Rights Campaign’s Equality Index this year (quite a feat considering HRC’s steep transgender benchmarks).

If Nike wants to enrage consumers at a time of record pushback, that’s their business. But better advice might come from their peers, who believe a smarter company slogan would be: Just don’t.

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

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NGO Camp in Mexico Urging Illegals to Vote for Biden

April 17, 2024/in Courts & Law, Culture War, Election Fraud, Elections, Hot Topics, Must Read, News, Policy, Politics, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by The Geller Report

These are fliers at an NGO camp in Mexico encouraging illegals to vote for Biden.

The camp has ties to both DHS Secretary Mayorkas and George Soros.

This is why the Democrats have thrown open our borders to millions of unvetted illegals. Fair elections would vanquish the Democrat party.

Flyers distributed at NGO in Mexico encouraging illegals to vote for President Biden

The flyers reads:

“Reminder to vote for President Biden when you are in the United States. We need another four years of his term to stay open.”

These are fliers at an NGO camp in Mexico encouraging illegals to vote for Biden.

The camp has ties to both DHS Secretary Mayorkas and George Soros.

Share the hell out of this. pic.twitter.com/fgvoHwsKSV

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) April 16, 2024

Alejandro Mayorkas is fully in bed with the open borders lobby.

Until 2020, he served on the board of HIAS — a radical left-wing group that is actively ferrying illegals into America.

He was never serious about border security.

The Senate must impeach.https://t.co/yTlpQYHeAQ pic.twitter.com/w36fGap0NX

— America 2100 (@America_2100) April 15, 2024

🚨BREAKING – Flyers distributed at NGO in Mexico encouraging illegals to vote for President Biden

The flyers reads:

“Reminder to vote for President Biden when you are in the United States. We need another four years of his term to stay open”

A MUST READ CRITICAL THREAD 🧵 pic.twitter.com/Mod4IeROXf

— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) April 16, 2024

RCM founder Gaby Zavala implied to @realmuckraker that she wants to help as many illegals as possible before President Trump is reelected pic.twitter.com/foIVJGMM3C

— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) April 16, 2024

According to documents obtained by @JudicialWatch, Secretary Mayorkas himself recently met with some of these entities, including Team Brownsville and Angry Tias and Abuelas pic.twitter.com/8NBkv2vZQ6

— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) April 16, 2024

Gaby Zavala was previously an organizer for La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), which listed the Open Society Institute as a partner pic.twitter.com/p6ABDzzodG

— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) April 16, 2024

Yep — and Alejandro Mayorkas is a former board member of that very same NGO.

A lot of Americans don't understand just how much Mayorkas is in bed with open borders lobby.

This video breaks the whole thing down in detail:https://t.co/dxYRMaLStZ

— Nate Hochman (@njhochman) April 16, 2024

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

WATCH: Thousands of Illegals Flood New York City Hall To Protest Move Out Of Luxury Hotels

April 17, 2024/in Courts & Law, Culture War, Elections, Featured, Hot Topics, Immigration, News, Policy, Politics, Regulation, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by The Geller Report

You can’t make this stuff up. New Yorkers can’t pay their bone crushing taxes …. for this. They are trying to occupy the building and are demanding to have luxury hotel rooms provided to illegals instead of the shelters that NYC has provided. Other demands include work permits, assistance, etc.

NOTE: Mostly military-age males!

WATCH:

Migrants are now flooding NYC City Hall to protest being moved to shelters instead of the luxury hotels. pic.twitter.com/Cy5L16MDP2

— Ashley St. Clair (@stclairashley) April 16, 2024

🚨#BREAKING: Swarms of Hundreds, possibly thousands, of undocumented immigrants have gathered outside New York City Hall for a meeting centered on their experiences

📌#Manhattan | #NewYork

Currently, hundreds, if not thousands, of undocumented immigrants are currently… pic.twitter.com/TAORpducJW

— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) April 16, 2024

Hundreds of illegals from Africa who don't speak any English are currently protesting outside City Hall & demanding more free handouts.

Just as our Founding Fathers intended.

pic.twitter.com/jt2ehONJ2Q

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) April 16, 2024

BREAKING: HUNDREDS of illegal migrants are gathering outside of NY City Hall. Most of the crowd is military-age African men.

pic.twitter.com/AHE6PePjAa

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) April 16, 2024

🚨BREAKING: Hundreds of illegal aliens line up outside of New York City Hall for a meeting to discuss their living conditions and work permits.

The City Council has chosen “diverse set of experts” created New Arrivals Strategy Team to improve illegal aliens’ experience in the… pic.twitter.com/VMs5tWp8Tj

— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) April 16, 2024

Happening now: Hundreds of criminal illegal aliens swarmed City Hall in NY reportedly to protest their housing accommodations and demand more assistance. Appears to be mostly military-age males.pic.twitter.com/dc1uJgSD9s

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 16, 2024

Illegals have just swarmed NYC City Hall and have surrounded it.

They’re trying to occupy the building and are demanding to have luxury hotel rooms provided to illegals instead of the shelters that NYC has provided.

This is only going to get worse.pic.twitter.com/y8nEkI3DG4

— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) April 16, 2024

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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Biden Regime Defends Unfreezing Billions of Dollars for Iran

April 17, 2024/in Culture War, Elections, Hot Topics, Must Read, National Security, News, Policy, Politics/by The Geller Report

This regime is a danger to humanity.

Kirby Defends Biden Easing Sanctions On Iran Leading To Billions In Oil Revenue

By Daily Wire News

U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby repeatedly defended President Joe Biden’s decision to relax sanctions enforcement against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has helped the country earn tens of billions of dollars in oil revenue.

Kirby made the remarks during a Sunday interview with Shannon Bream on Fox News after Iran launched 185 one-way suicide drones, 110 surface-to-surface missiles, and 36 cruise missiles at Israel.

Bream asked, “Is it not fair to say though there have been moves by this administration that have opened up cash and other opportunities for them, which we know are fungible in ways that are not helping the Iranian people, but are benefiting the elites and people there who chant ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’?”

Kirby responded by claiming that it was former President Donald Trump who enacted “the sanctions relief program” for Iran, even though Trump was known for enacting crippling sanctions on Iran.

“It doesn’t go to the regime,” Kirby said. “And the idea that the regime was somehow felt like they were freed up to support these proxies because of that, it just doesn’t comport with the facts. They had been supporting these proxies for many, many years.”

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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POSTS ON X:

Peter Doocy: "John, has President Biden considered maybe beefing up the public Iran posture to be more than just one word?"

John Kirby: "You're referring to "don't?""

Doocy: "Yeah…because he said "don't" and they did it anyway.""

Some of Doocy's best work 😂 pic.twitter.com/QaJwKxGUBG

— Julia 🇺🇸 (@Jules31415) April 16, 2024

Top spokesman John Kirby defends Biden enriching the Iranian regime with tens of billions of dollars through sanctions waivers and non-enforcement:

"It's hard to take a look at what President Biden has done and say that we've somehow gone soft on Iran!" pic.twitter.com/KpJDzcGaKc

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 14, 2024

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who signed on Biden's decision to unfreeze billions to Iran: "Iran has always used & focused its funds on supporting terror." pic.twitter.com/SkEL2Jcwpg

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) April 14, 2024

Launched from Iran, Made in America

April 17, 2024/in Culture War, Elections, Featured, Hot Topics, National Security, News, Policy, Politics/by Jihad Watch

Biden’s complicity in the attack on Iran from beginning to end.

On Saturday night, Iran launched its attack, codenamed “Ya Rasool Allah” or “Messenger of Allah,” on the Jewish State, after Israel had taken out the Iranian mastermind of Oct 7.

The attack began with waves of drones to swamp Israel’s air defenses, followed by cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. While the British and the French took out some drones, U.S. forces accounted for about half the total of drones and some of the ballistic missiles, leaving the rest for the Israelis to deal with. By the time it was over, 99% of the attack had been intercepted.

The only serious injury in the “Messenger of Allah” bombardment was to a 7-year-old Muslim Bedouin girl.

But why was Iran able to launch so many missiles at all, how did everyone know when the attack would happen, and why is Biden warning Israel not to respond to the Iranian attack?

Last month, the Biden administration provided a $10 billion sanctions waiver for Iran. The administration warned Iran that it would impose sanctions on its missile program if it sent them to Russia. There was no mention of the real focus of those sanctions which was concern that Iran would provide those weapons to proxy terror groups like Hezbollah, Iraqi Shiite militias and the Houthis, now using those weapons to attack civilian container ships and US Navy vessels.

Iran should never have had that weapons technology in the first place. In 2006, the Bush administration had convinced the UN Security Council to sanction Iran’s missile program “to prevent the supply, sale or transfer …of all items, materials, equipment, goods and technology which could contribute to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.”

Part of Obama’s Iran Deal allowed those sanctions to expire on October 18, 2023. Two weeks after the Oct 7 attacks on Israel which killed over 1,000 people, the Biden administration let the UN sanctions lapse, making it easier for Iran to buy, export and boost its development of weapons technology. The administration tried to substitute a limited sanctions program of its own for the original sanctions while continuing to allow Iran to access billions in sanctions relief.

Where the Trump administration had snapped back sanctions for Iran’s violations, Biden lifted them a month after taking office. Sen. Ted Cruz has estimated that the Biden administration allowed around $100 billion to flow to Iran since 2021. That $10 billion was just the latest of it.

Despite the open violations of the Iran Deal, Biden allowed Iran to benefit from an agreement it was actively violating every single day even as it was attacking American soldiers and Israel.

When Biden allowed Iran that latest $10 billion in sanctions relief, not only were US Navy personnel actively in combat with Iran’s Houthi terrorists, but two Navy SEALS had died in an operation to intercept Iranian weapons being smuggled from Somalia to the Houthis in Yemen. In Jordan, an attack by Iran’s Shiite militias operating out of Iraq had killed three American service members. While Biden appeared willing to let Iran get away with it, Israel was not.

As General Mohammad Zahedi and other figures from Iran’s IRGC international terror network were meeting in a building near Iran’s terror facility in Damascus, they were taken out. After his death, Iranian sources named Zahedi as the mastermind of the Oct 7 attacks.

What followed were a series of back-channel communications between the Biden administration and Iran through various third parties. The goal of these negotiations was to persuade Iran not to “escalate” the conflict by limiting its attack to what a Reuters report described as “within certain limits.” The timing of the attack was so widely known that media reports correctly repeated warnings that Iran would strike within 36 hours. Hours before the attack began, not only Iran’s allies, but also other countries in the region, were already prepared for it to begin.

Instead of making clear to Iran that an attack was unacceptable, the Biden administration was pre-arranging the terms of the attack on one of its allies while warning it not to respond.

When Iran launched the attack, it had been coordinated with Biden officials. Had it really wanted to launch a damaging assault, it would have changed the timing of the attack. Instead it not only launched the attack on time, but it did so while communicating with D.C. through backchannels before and after the attack. A Biden administration official stated that there were “direct communications through the Swiss channel” including to tell the Biden administration when the attack was winding down.

That is not how attacks normally work, but this was not a normal attack, nor is it the actual one.

Iran launched the attack to demonstrate its capabilities. For the first time it showed that it could coordinate missile and drone launches from all of its clients across the region. The launches took place not only from Iran, but from the Houthis in Yemen, Iraq and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The attacks allowed Iran to test a coordinated assault across four countries, to test how Israeli and American air defenses would respond to being swarmed, and to score a propaganda victory with images of its drones over Jerusalem and that part of the Temple Mount where Muslim invaders had built their Al Aqsa mosque. What it was not meant to do was be devastating.

Iran would have rejoiced if it had hammered Israeli air bases and cities, but barring critical errors by Israel and America, it wasn’t expecting more than an expensive light show and a little rubble.

Compare the Iranian attack on Israel with the finely coordinated attack on Tower 22, the U.S. base on the Jordanian-Iranian border, where the Iraqi Shiite terror proxies had perfectly timed the attack to coincide with a moment of confusion caused by the return of a U.S. drone, or the Oct 7 attack which set out to analyze and dismantle Israel’s border defense network, timing drone attacks to disable automated defenses, with this straightforward telegraphed attack.

If Iran remains true to form, the actual attack will come from its proxies, will exploit vulnerabilities in Israeli defenses and will allow the regime to maintain plausible deniability as it did on Oct 7.

What happened on Saturday night was not the actual attack, but a feint with the added purpose of convincing the Biden administration that its diplomatic approach can work. Beginning with the Iran Deal, the Islamic terror state has played a complicated game, welcoming diplomacy and then abruptly rejecting it, holding out hope and then taking it away, but only doing it long enough to keep up the chase. This time around, Tehran convinced Biden that its Islamic leadership, despite their cries of, “Death to America” are rational actors who want to manage the conflict.

In the two years before Oct 7, Hamas convinced the Biden administration and the Israelis that it could be dealt with before launching a devastating assault, so too Iran, like other Islamic terrorist entities, specializes in luring America into a state of complacency before an attack.

And so the Biden administration is warning Israel not to respond. After all these years it believes that Iran can be dealt with and that it successfully negotiated an end to the crisis. It allowed Iran to launch its attack on Israel, helped intercept it and foolishly believes that Tehran is now satisfied because all its leaders ever wanted, like Biden, was a show, not the real thing.

Biden thinks that when Iran’s elites chant, “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” it’s as empty a slogan as all of his campaign promises. But, unlike Biden, Iran’s leaders keep their promises. The slogans are serious. They intend to destroy America and they intend to destroy Israel.

American soldiers continue dying at the hands of Iran and its terror proxies while D.C. diplomats conduct empty negotiations and Iran’s agents penetrate their way into our government.

After September 11, Biden suggested, “this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran.” Since then billions of dollars have made their way to Iran. The Islamic terror state has killed and kidnapped Americans, it is encircling America’s allies in the region, including Israel and Saudi Arabia, and still the ‘no strings’ checks keep coming from D.C.

AUTHOR

DANIEL GREENFIELD

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VIDEO: Regime Change in Iran is the Only Viable Way to Stop Iran From Trying Destroy Israel and Eventually the Western World

April 17, 2024/in Culture War, Hot Topics, National Security, News, Policy, Politics, Video/by Harold Rhode

Regime change in Iran is the only viable way to stop Iran from trying to destroy Israel, it’s Sunni Arab Neighbors, and eventually the Western world.

From an Iranian Perspective, given what happened last Saturday night, Israel should respond ASAP. The best way to do so is go after the regime’s sources of revenue – i.e., its export oil/gas infrastructure in the Persian Gulf.

Please watch a superb interview with the Iranian Crown Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi’s on why Regime Change is the only effective way to stop Iran from trying to destroy Israel and eventually the Western world, below.

We don’t need American/Israeli troops on the ground to do this. History tells us that once the Iranian people believe their regime cannot do what it needs to stay in power, the people will go out in the streets and do the rest.

I witnessed this first hand when I was going to university in Mashhad, Iran during the early and mid-stages of the 1978-79 Islamic revolution. When they saw the regime was unwilling/unable to do what was necessary to keep itself in power, they revolted and did the rest. Iranian history is replete with many other examples like this.

The best way to make this happen now is destroy the regime’s only source of income – i.e., Iran’s oil/gas export infrastructure. After the regime is gone, that could be rebuilt.

For an example please see the signs in the attached document which appeared in the streets of Tehran immediately after last Saturday’s Israeli destruction of the Iranian missiles and unmanned aerial devices the Iranian regime sent against Israel.

From an Iranian perspective, Israel must respond to Iran’s aggression against Israel ASAP and devastatingly. Otherwise, Israel looks weak. The will embolden the Iranian regime to up the ante against Israel.

Please watch Piers Morgan speaks to the Crown Prince of Iran Rezi Pahlavi [at 2:30 minute mark]:

I was going to university in Mashhad, Iran during the early and mid-stages of the 1978-79 Islamic revolution. I saw this in action. When they saw the regime was unwilling/unable to do what was necessary to keep itself in power, they revolted and did the rest. Iranian history is replete with many other examples like this.

The best way to make this happen now is to go after the regime’s source of income – i.e., destroy its only source of income – to destroy Iran’s oil/gas export infrastructure. After the regime is gone, that could be rebuilt.

For an example please see the signs below which appeared in the streets of Tehran immediately after last Saturday’s Israeli destruction of the Iranian missiles and unmanned aerial devices the Iranian regime sent against Israel.

POSTS ON X:

The rant is just a reflection of how long we’ve been unheard while people made up crazy narratives and tall tales about the Islamic Regime, with only a sliver of time on are to try to correct the mass disinformation. pic.twitter.com/f2mhkzCKva

— Elica Le Bon الیکا‌ ل بن (@elicalebon) April 17, 2024

“Khamenei is trying to start a war to save his failing regime. But this is not a war that our nation wants. Iranians have made it clear: the criminal mafia occupying Iran does not represent our nation, our values, or our aspirations,” Iranian Prince @PahlaviReza tweeted Friday.… pic.twitter.com/zEJ35EGmSx

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) April 13, 2024

Ethics, Harvard style

April 16, 2024/in Culture War, Education, Elections, Hot Topics, News, Policy, Politics, Social Issues, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by Cherie Zaslawsky

Well, you’ll wait in vain.

Ms. Gay, untouchable due to her being both black and female, while forced to resign as Harvard’s President after her public unwillingness to call out the virulent antisemitic pro-Hamas protests at this once highly esteemed university, has been rewarded with a salary just shy of a million a year.

And, irony of ironies, she’ll be teaching a brand new ethics class!

One may well wonder what the topic will be: Situational ethics? Moral relativism? How to successfully plagiarize beyond your wildest dreams? And/or how to disguise your hatred of Jews as sympathy for those Palestinians who merely want all of Israel for themselves, minus the Jews, from the river to the sea?

The possibilities are rich indeed.

Read more about it in Gateway Pundit here.

If the World Sees Us [with a] Lack of Resolve, ‘They Will Come with Guns Blazing,’ Johnson Warns

April 16, 2024/in Commentary, Culture War, Elections, Hot Topics, National Security, News, Policy, Politics, Religion/by Family Research Council

Americans woke up to plenty of terrifying headlines Sunday after Iran lobbed more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel. “The world stands at the brink of an all-out war,” The Telegraph insisted. Columbian President Gustavo Petro publicly despaired, calling the weekend’s attack “a prelude to World War III.” Here at home, President Joe Biden continued to walk a political tightrope, declaring his “ironclad commitment to the security of Israel,” while privately urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to suck it up and take whatever Iran dishes out.

Like most people watching the scene unfold, the editors at National Review can’t believe the White House’s suggestion that the Jewish state sit on its hands. “Any effort to impede Israel’s retaliation would be morally disgraceful and strategically inane,” they wrote. “… No nation could live under a situation in which another nation vowing to destroy it can threaten its population in this manner, and rest on the hope that it can meet every future attack with the same amount of success in shooting down weapons.”

On the Hill, leaders saw right through Biden’s cheap political ploy. This is a country, Rubio said of Israel, that has faced “constant existential threats to their existence on a repeated basis. … What I don’t understand is why Joe Biden and the administration would leak to the media, the contents of a conversation which he tells Netanyahu he doesn’t think that Netanyahu should respond at all,” unless, as he suspects, it’s to placate their pro-Palestine, anti-Semitic base. “It is the continuing part of the public game they are playing which frankly encourages Iran and Hezbollah.”

But then, as plenty of experts have pointed out, Biden has already done more than his share to help the Islamist regime. “Within weeks of taking office, Biden removed the terrorist designation on Iran’s proxy in Yemen, the Houthis,” NRO’s editors pointed out. “[H]e allowed the U.N. sanctions against the Iranian missile and drone program to expire. Those were the types of weapons not only that were used [Saturday] night but that Iran has sold to Russia for use against Ukraine.”

When pressed about the decision to relax sanctions — ultimately giving Iran five months to build up its missile capabilities and cash reserves — U.S. National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby defended Biden. Asked by Fox News’s Shannon Bream if the administration could’ve done more to deter Tehran, Kirby claimed that it was “hard to look at what President Biden has done with respect to Iran and say that he hasn’t been tough on Iran.”

That’s interesting, former National Security Council member Richard Goldberg said, since Biden hasn’t stopped the flow of money to Iran since the weekend’s attacks. The U.N. Security Council called an emergency meeting Sunday only to adjourn without taking “any meaningful action.” It’s unfathomable to Goldberg, who pointed out, “This was a massive, unprecedented, and unacceptable strategic attack on Israel. It would be a huge mistake to pull Israel back from a military retaliation — but it’s downright insanity to keep $10 billion accessible to Tehran in the aftermath. The president needs to lock down all the money he made available to Tehran these past months.”

Although American Ambassador Robert Wood made a tepid promise that Washington “will explore additional measures to hold Iran accountable,” no one is quite sure what that means. Meanwhile, Mark Dubowitz wanted people to know, there’s been a “massive increase in Iranian nuclear enrichment since President Biden [was] elected.” “Facts are stubborn things,” he warned. “So is [Ayatollah] Khamenei when he faces minimal American pressure and massive sanctions relief.”

At the very least, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told the press, Congress can finally finish the work of Israeli aid that he started more than five months ago. As Family Research Council President Tony Perkins pointed out on “This Week on the Hill,” the first substantive bill that the House passed after Johnson took the gavel was $14.5 billion in assistance for Israel — which the new speaker offset by cutting an IRS slush fund. Democrats voted against it. “And what has the Senate done with it?” Perkins asked Johnson.

“Well,” he replied, “nothing. It’s been sitting on [Schumer’s] desk. I tried again to do a clean Israel [bill] just a full unpaid for assistance. One hundred sixty-six House Democrats voted against it, and Joe Biden threatened to veto it. A clean Israel funding bill. They said no. That’s a pretty amazing thing.”

Even more incredible, Johnson invited Netanyahu to speak before a joint session of Congress, and Schumer refuses to authorize it — despite being the highest-ranking, longest-serving Jewish member of Congress. “It’s stunning, it really is,” the speaker agreed. What happened to Israel being a bipartisan issue, Perkins wanted to know? “Right,” Johnson replied. “The Democrats are turning their back on Israel now [from] the president on down.”

It’s all “deeply concerning” to Netanyahu, the speaker relayed after multiple conversations with the prime minister. “It’s almost unbelievable that the president has turned his back since October 7th on Israel. They’re leaning into the pro-Hamas, pro-protestor branch of their party. … [T]hey’re fearful of that wing of the party. And it’s a rising number of young progressives who are screaming that Israel is the enemy somehow. … You had 50 House Democrats just a few days ago, sent a letter saying that we should no longer have arms transfers to Israel so they can defend their very existence,” he pointed out. “It’s incredible.”

This whole shift in the Democratic Party is alarming, Johnson agreed. “The reason we stand with Israel, for us, it’s a matter of faith, but it’s also a matter of geopolitical stability. They’re the only democracy in the Middle East.”

Before he was speaker, Johnson talked about a meeting with Netanyahu and his cabinet, where they told him, “We want to remind you all that the reason that Israel can stand is because they know that our brother America — the big brother — as it were, is standing behind them, looking over their shoulder.” In other words, he explained, “If the world ever sees that we lack that resolve, they will come with all guns blazing, literally, against Israel. It’s a dangerous, dangerous situation right now. We cannot show a lack of resolve.”

And “the idea that we would not roll out the red carpet and invite our close friend and ally to come and update the Congress on [the war], to me, is unconscionable,” he reiterated. But these issues are going to come home to roost, Johnson warned. If the Democratic Party continues to be held hostage by radical forces that want to abandon Israel, it spells trouble for Biden and company.

“I think they’ve got a very real political problem on their hands. But this should transcend politics. This is bigger than that. This is about safety and security, not just [for] Israel, but the American people. We have got to stand strong right now. They need to put politics aside. But, yes, they’ve got a real problem going into an election year when a rising number of their base is now turning against Israel.”

The Americans who care about this situation, who understand the importance of our ally Israel, need to “let their voices be heard,” Johnson urged. “They need to prevail upon members of Congress to get this job done. I’ve tried to get Israel funded [with] the supplemental, the defense package, that they need. It’s about $14 billion.”

The Middle East is a tough neighborhood, Perkins pointed out. Most of the surrounding nations have threatened to wipe Israel off the map — including Iran. And “you cannot fight to a draw. You have to fight to win. The prime minister understands that. But apparently, the Biden administration does not.”

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

Elementary School Denies Request to Start Prayer Club, Approves ‘Pride Club’

April 16, 2024/in Culture War, Education, Healthcare, Hot Topics, News, Policy, Politics, Science, Social Issues, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by Family Research Council

In 2015, religious freedom seemed compromised when a Washington high school football coach was fired for praying with his team after a game. Joe Kennedy waited roughly six years for the Supreme Court to hear the oral arguments for his case. He was represented by a Christian nonprofit legal organization, First Liberty Institute (FLI), which took the position that “no teacher or coach should lose their job for simply expressing their faith while in public.” This was a notable case in 2022, and recent events have caused the issue to resurface.

Earlier this year, Laura, an 11-year-old girl who attends Creekside Elementary in Washington State, requested to start an interfaith prayer club at her school. But her request was denied.

When Laura and her mom approached the principal about the matter in February, they were informed that the school’s budget for clubs had been finalized in October. And according to a spokesperson for Issaquah School District, “[C]lubs offered are student-interest driven and meet outside of the school day. At the elementary level, participation in a club also requires parent permission. Once the school year begins, the building budget is set, and additional clubs are usually not added until the following school year.” But the story doesn’t end here.

Laura’s group, which she hoped to start with her friend, was meant to include people of all different religious backgrounds. She shared with Fox News that she was feeling alone, and that she thought this would be a good idea to bring students together. “I think that this is something that I am very passionate about,” she added. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t really want to make this happen, if I didn’t think that it would be a great opportunity for everyone.” It was later discovered that an LGBT club was approved only a week prior to Laura’s club request being denied, which has caused spectators to raise their eyebrows.

As a result of this alleged hypocrisy, Laura filed a lawsuit on the grounds of religious discrimination with the help of FLI. Attorneys pointed out in a letter to the school, “The First Amendment ‘doubly protects religious speech.’ These First Amendment protections extend to elementary school students expressing their sincere religious beliefs through voluntary clubs. Yet the school district flouted its First Amendment obligations when they refused to allow a student-led interfaith prayer club. Its unlawful action violates both the Free Exercise Clause and the Free Speech Clause.”

Kayla Toney, associate counsel at First Liberty Institute, explained, “Denying the formation of a religious student club while allowing other clubs violates the Constitution,” drawing attention to the fact that the similar case with Coach Kennedy occurred “just a short drive away” from Laura’s elementary school. And in comments to The Washington Stand, Arielle Del Turco, Family Research Council’s director of the Center for Religious Liberty, said, “The fact that Creekside Elementary denied a religious club the same month that it approved a Pride club reveals a lot about American culture right now.”

She continued, “Sadly, the promotion of LGBT identities is held sacred while religion is sidelined and marginalized. It’s heartbreaking that Laura, a fifth-grade student, felt alone at school as a religious believer and that she knew other students who felt the same way. She reacted in exactly the right way by making an effort to build community with religious students.”

Del Turco went on to emphasize that, “Oftentimes, when people seek to prevent religious expression in government venues, they will use the excuse that they don’t want to imply that the government favors one religion over another.” However, when it comes to Laura’s case, she pointed out that “the school doesn’t even have that flimsy excuse because the students were seeking to start a … club that would be open to students of different faiths.”

Ultimately, “Any school that allows other clubs while specifically denying religious clubs is acting in a discriminatory manner and violating the First Amendment, which protects freedom of expression and the free exercise of religion.” Del Turco concluded, “Christian fifth graders shouldn’t face viewpoint discrimination from their school leadership. It shouldn’t have had to come to this, but I fully expect this injustice to be rectified in the courts.”

AUTHOR

Sarah Holliday

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

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The Mullahs Ruling Iran Are Not Iranians

April 16, 2024/in Commentary, Culture War, Hot Topics, News, Policy, Politics, Religion/by Amil Imani

I have repeatedly said that the mullahs ruling Iran are not Iranians. They truly despise Iran and its glorious past. Genetically, they are mostly Arabs. They even hate its name. There were never any questions about the Islamists denigrating Iran and exalting Muhammad. These creatures owe their very livelihood to the lucrative business that Muhammad launched for their parasitic, shameful existence. It is vital for these leeches to continue trumpeting the sainthood of the founder of their business and driving all the competition out of business.

Just recently, Sayyid Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami became a senior Iranian cleric, as well as a senior member of the Assembly of Experts, also Tehran’s Friday prayer leader. He once proved me right. Give this worm credit for paying homage to the source of his shameful livelihood.

“How dare the people of Iran even think of having a revolution or a referendum! This government belongs to Imam Zaman (The Lord of the Age), and if anyone considers himself an Iranian, he needs to get the hell out of here. This soil belongs to us, the followers of Imam Zaman and his tribe. Iran’s name was created by ignorant people, and incidentally, this name is very provocative. This ignorant name (Iran) must be changed to something like “Velayat” lest it provoke our enemies (Iranian people).”

The battle against these inhuman (subhuman) oppressors in Iran has been arduous and long. It is the battle of Iran’s true sons and daughters and the rest of mankind. It remains our duty to work our hardest to remove these leeches from power.

We recognize that the dysfunctional Islamic software is deeply ingrained in the minds of many Muslims, who opt to remain in mental bondage rather than purge their minds of this software and join the rest of the human family with a new emancipating program for life: liberty.

Islamic clergy, the parasitic prime beneficiaries of Islam, are master practitioners of the carrot-and-stick strategy. By drawing heavily from the Quran and the Hadith, the conniving mullahs and imams have assembled a potent arsenal of threats and promises to keep the faithful in line. They had little trouble in so doing since Islamic scripture is replete with descriptions of the graphic horrific punishment awaiting the wayward and the unbelievers, while the rewards for the obedient and docile if they are male, are described as an endless variety of sensual pleasures. Anyone daring to leave the corral of Islam is apostate and automatically condemned to death. And that’s just for starters. The punishment awaiting the ungrateful deserter of the one and only true path, Islam, is horrific eternal torment in Allah’s hell.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, which holds in great contempt any non-Islamic belief or heritage, has embarked on destroying many pre-Islamic archeological sites in Iran, such as Pasargad and Persepolis — some of humanity’s most prized cultural heritage — on the pretext of building a dam. The heinous destruction of the two Bamiyan Buddha statues by Afghanistan’s Taliban pales in comparison to the present barbaric designs of the Islamic Republic. Pasargad and Persepolis are more than a mere collection of ancient structures. They are an embodiment of humanity’s historical respect for liberty and tolerance of diversity.

But the high clergy of Iran is not exactly living up to its brand. The mullah Mafia has a great scam going. They promise the ignorant Islamic devotees the phony “paradise” of the afterlife while they themselves enjoy their paradise of women, wealth, and wine on this earth. They are unrivaled in duplicity and heartlessness. So, in nearly perfect emulation of Muhammad and his leadership 1400 years ago, the pious mullahs go about plotting earthly destruction as they enrich themselves and enjoy earthly pleasures on the backs of their people.

Many Iranians are praying that help is on its way and that the ongoing protests now will not result in a repeat of 2009, when Obama threw a lifeline to the mullahs’ regime by not supporting the Iranian people, in effect siding with the genocidal mullahs. The turbaned thugs were taking their final breath, being completely broke, and the good old USA came to the rescue, releasing billions of dollars and easing other sanctions. I will never understand this.

My aspiration for my motherland is to see it freed from the evil that has been visited upon it ever since our people bought into a most depraved version of Islam. Whether people become Baha’is, Zoroastrians, or Christians, this should be a free choice for each person. Even if a person insists on remaining Muslim, that is his or her prerogative. Yet imposing the suffocating intolerance of Islam on an entire nation is something that neither I nor any person who lives in Iran can accept. Our beloved Iran deserves to be a country where, once again, we take pride in being its children instead of the present, when we often do all we can to conceal our nation of birth when visiting abroad.

The Islamic Republic is NOT Iran

NYC: Pro-Hamas protestors scream ‘Death to America,’ burn American flag

April 16, 2024/in Commentary, Culture War, Elections, Hot Topics, National Security, News, Policy, Politics, Religion, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by Jihad Watch

No one will be deported. No one will even be investigated. It isn’t as if these were “insurrectionists” or some other group that is out of favor with the regime.

Pro-Palestinian protesters chant “d*ath to America” while waiving Hezbollah Flags and light an American Flag on fire at a protest in NYC.

The enemy is already here.pic.twitter.com/2jgzfLTxu3

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 15, 2024

AUTHOR

ROBERT SPENCER

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REPORT: The target of the targeted strike on the vehicle in South Lebanon is a senior member of Hezbollah pic.twitter.com/UB4uZKfW8D

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) April 16, 2024