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POLITICS Facebook Twitter Flipboard WhatsApp Email Copy Top House Intel Dem defends ‘very strong vetting process’ as Biden admin considers admitting Gazan refugees to US By Social Links forRyan King Published May 5, 2024, 4:52 p.m. ET The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee ripped GOP uproar over reports the Biden administration is considering admitting Gazan refugees into the US. Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) dinged Republicans in Congress making a fuss about the possibility and underscored the rigorous vetting processes in place for refugees. “What I can tell you is that this is not a thing,” Himes told “Fox...

The pro-Palestinian, antisemitic protests on university campuses across the nation are funded by President Joe Biden’s own political donors — which could explain why he hesitates to condemn them and won’t investigate them. Biden equivocated last month when asked to react to the protests, saying that he condemned the antisemitism but also condemned those “who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” which puzzled observers.

Three synagogues in New York City and the Brooklyn Museum were reportedly subjected to false bomb threats on Saturday. Congregation Rodeph Sholom in the Upper West Side received a bomb threat around 3:15 p.m. and was subsequently evacuated, police told the New York Post. The threat was ultimately unfounded, police confirmed. Then another bomb threat, which was also determined to be false, was reported at the Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, which is “progressive” and “LGBTQ-friendly,” according to the report. No one was inside the synagogue at the time of the threat, police said.

Governor Kristi Noem (R-SD) said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that she had to kill her dangerous dog, adding that President Joe Biden’s dog “has attacked 24 Secret Service people.” Partial transcript as follows: MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, so you don’t agree with Mr. Trump’s statement there. I want to ask you again about the book. I- I know you know, this question is coming, because there’s been such an enormous backlash about your revelation that you shot and killed a Wirehair Pointer or named Cricket, who was 14 months old. You say in the book, she came from another...

Police officers repeatedly fired their guns at a New York City man who had called 911 during a mental health crisis as his mother and younger brother begged officers not to shoot, bodycam video released Friday shows. Win Rozario's family called on the officers to be fired and charged with murder after the footage of the killing was made public by the state's attorney general. “The video that was released makes it clear that Win should be alive but the police came and murdered him in our kitchen without any care for him or us,” said a statement from Rozario’s...

Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.), a surrogate for President Biden’s reelection campaign, said on Sunday Biden is focused on ensuring “proportionate” consequences for student protesters. In an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill on Sunday,” Chris Stirewalt asked McClellan how Biden was navigating the opposing tensions on his base, with some embracing the student protesters’ viewpoints and others raising concerns about violations of the law and incidents of antisemitism.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said the ongoing pro-Palestinian college protests are “working against peace in the Middle East.” Fetterman has been outspoken about his support for Israel, saying recently that the pro-Palestinian encampments on college campuses were “pup tents” for militant group Hamas. Host Margaret Brennan asked Fetterman on CBS’s “Face the Nation” about the protests on Sunday, asking him whether he considers flying the Palestinian flag during the demonstrations to be antisemitic.

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is negotiating a new contract with the public schools system and is understood to be calling for an extra $50 billion to pay for wage hikes as well as other demands such as fully paid abortions for its members, new migrant services and facilities and a host of LGBT-related requirements and training in schools. To put the figure into context, the total base tax receipts for the state of Illinois last year were $50.7 billion.

As frat boys counter-protesting radical Palestinian supporters marching on the University of Mississippi campus are accused of “racism” for mocking the left-wing anti-Israel activists, virtually no condemnations are heard from these same voices in response to a pro-Palestinian woman outright denouncing “white people” at the UCLA encampment in Southern California. In a viral clip that has been making the rounds on social media in recent days, an anti-Israel protester at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) can be heard dismissing a counter-protester because he is a “white person.”

A crash happened Saturday evening outside the White House, leaving one person dead, according to police. The Metropolitan Police Department responded at about 10:45 p.m. Saturday night to reports of a crash at the intersection of 15th Street and Pennsylvania Ave Northwest in Washington, D.C. One man was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The vehicle crashed into a security barrier around the White House complex. The incident is being investigated only as a traffic crash by the police department’s Major Crash Investigations Unit.

Senator Mark Kelly (R-AZ) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he supported eliminating the filibuster to codify abortion rights. Host Kristen Welker said, “Let’s talk about what’s happening in your state, Arizona, is now effectively ground zero for the national fight over abortion rights. This week, the state legislature voted to repeal Arizona’s ban that went all the way back to 1864. Do you think the repeal minimizes the urgency that some voters will feel to get out and vote for Democrats?”

The Virginia State Police cleared an anti-Israel protest at the University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville on Saturday and reportedly took over two dozen protesters into custody. Law enforcement officials in riot gear were seen approaching the pro-Palestinian encampment that sat on the university’s lawn and spraying chemical irritants as they began clearing the encampment, according to a video posted by The Cavalier Daily, UVA’s student-run newspaper.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a video statement on Sunday insisting that Israel will not agree to Hamas’s demand that it end the war as a condition of a deal to release the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. “Israel has been, and still is, ready for a pause in the fighting in order to free our hostages,” he said. “[But] Israel will not agree to Hamas’s demands, which would mean surrender; it will continue fighting until all of its objectives are achieved.”

Hamas claimed responsibility Sunday for a barrage of rockets fired from the town of Rafah toward the Kerem Shalom border crossing, which is responsible for the entry of trucks of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. There were several casualties. The Times of Israel reported: At least seven people were wounded in the Hamas rocket attack on the Kerem Shalom area, according to Hebrew-language media reports. Several of those hurt in the attack are listed in serious condition, the reports say.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Mick Jagger briefly waded into Louisiana politics, taking a verbal jab at the state’s conservative governor, as The Rolling Stones performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The band had finished “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” during Thursday evening’s set when Jagger began talking about inclusion, according to New Orleans news outlets. “We want to include him too,” Jagger said of Gov. Jeff Landry. “Even if he wants to take us back to the Stone Age.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) joined Breitbart News Saturday on SiriusXM to discuss her effort, as expressed by host Matt Boyle, to “expose Speaker Mike Johnson’s power-sharing agreement with the Democrats.” Greene announced Wednesday she will force a vote on a motion to vacate on the floor after House Democrat leadership said that they would protect Johnson’s (R-LA) speakership.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was caught on camera bolting from local reporters who wanted to ask him about the recent arrest of an alleged cop killer. Johnson was at a National Day of Prayer service Thursday in the Windy City, with his chauffeured car waiting in an alley, according to reports. Local reporters darted after the mayor, hollering for him to wait and to comment about the arrest of Xavier Tate Jr., who allegedly killed Chicago Police Officer Luis Huesca in a carjacking last month, according to video.

Former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Steele sharply criticized former President Trump’s inability to admit he lost the last presidential election and said he’s afraid of losing the upcoming one in November because it will hit the most important thing to him, his ego. “Donald Trump is afraid of losing, because it strikes at the core of the thing that’s most important to him, and that’s his ego, and he doesn’t want to do the work to actually win,” Steele said on MSNBC’s “The Weekend.” “He wants to goad and cajole and bully people into believing something about our...

On Saturday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” Biden 2024 Principal Deputy Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks stated that President Joe Biden will not accept violence or antisemitism and “believes in what these protesters are saying and he is working to bring peace to the Middle East and bring the situation to a close.” Fulks said, “[W]hen it comes to this issue, I think it’s important to call out that the President has said, as you said, that he believes in the right for peaceful protest, but that political violence, antisemitism [are] not going to be accepted. The other piece here is...

The University of Vermont has capitulated to a demand by the campus anti-Israel “encampment,” canceling a commencement address by UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a black female diplomatic pioneer. The “encampment” is one of dozens across campuses in the U.S., demanding the destruction of Israel and making other antisemitic demands. According to local NBC affiliate WPTZ: Thomas-Greenfield is the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. UVM student protesters had listed the cancellation of her commencement speech as one of their key demands. She has overseen three votes for a cease-fire to war efforts in the Middle East, and has vetoed the...