The Antisemitism Awareness Act shows the mire of identity politics
Here's a quaint idea: If the government is going to punish someone, it should be for something the person has done, not the viewpoint he or she holds while doing it.
Antidiscrimination laws have made that distinction harder and harder to maintain. The Antisemitism Awareness Act would continue the trend. The AAA passed the House 320-91 last year, but on Wednesday it stumbled in a Senate committee as Democratic lawmakers and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) raised free-speech concerns. The pause is welcome because the legislation is flawed. But the real lesson is broader: America's civil rights model for managing diversity warps public debate and needs to be reconsidered.
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New York Post
44 minutes ago
- New York Post
Behind the scenes of Trump's ‘iconic' McDonald's visit before election victory: ‘That was epic'
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump vs. California is the fight the White House wants
President Trump is getting the fight with California he wants as Democrats in the state criticize his decision to send the National Guard to Los Angeles without local approval to deal with protests surrounding raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The unfolding events hit at the heart of key issues that Trump basks in: immigration and fighting liberal California Democrats. You can also add in law and order, as Trump and his team accuse California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and other local officials of being too soft on demonstrators destroying property and setting cars on fire. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller on Sunday reposted several images meant to convey the chaos in LA, including one showing huge plumes of smoke billowing from a burning vehicle as demonstrators watched, with one with holding Mexican flag. The post read, 'Let's check in on how LAPD's management of the 'protests' is going,' and criticized Newsom's slamming of Trump's decision to send the guard. A second Miller repost was from his White House colleague Taylor Budowich, who sent out a similar video of a masked protestor on a car surrounded by other burning cars and demonstrators in the streets. 'Democrat management,' the post said. Newsom has said California will sue the Trump administration over its deployment of the National Guard, while the White House maintains Trump intervened at the right time to restore law and order and that the violent attacks had already escalated before he stepped in. 'Donald Trump has created the conditions you see on your TV tonight. He's exacerbated the conditions. He's, you know, lit the proverbial match. He's putting fuel on this fire, ever since he announced he was taking over the National Guard — an illegal act, an immoral act, an unconstitutional act,' Newsom said on MSNBC. Just a few days ago, Trump was battling negative coverage of his public feud with erstwhile ally Elon Musk. The violence in LA allowed him to rapidly shift gears and put much of the focus on immigration even as his team pushed Congress to pass his signature legislation — which had triggered the battle with Musk. 'The riots in Los Angeles prove that we desperately need more immigration enforcement personnel and resources. America must reverse the invasion unleashed by Joe Biden of millions of unvetted illegal aliens into our country,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on the social platform X, calling for Senate passage of the House-passed 'one, big beautiful bill' with its funding measures for border security. The story even served to bring Musk back into the fold, with the tech mogul sending a number of supportive messages of the president that criticized Newsom and demonstrators. Trump ran on a platform of mass deportations. Since then, ICE raids, arrests of migrants at immigration courts and lawsuits over deportations have been a major part of his first few months in office. His administration has blamed Democrats, especially Biden, for allowing what they call an 'invasion' of migrants coming in at the nation's southern border, and White House briefings have often begun with spotlighting a deported migrant who committed a crime in the U.S. The images of masked demonstrators with Mexican flags falls right into this argument. That the protests are in California is also good for Trump. Trump has flirted with the idea of fining or nixing federal funding for the state, lashing out earlier this month after a transgender athlete was allowed to compete and win at a high school track and field meet. He also blamed Newsom, who is widely considered to be eying a presidential bid, for the wildfires that raged in the Los Angeles area in January and made his first trip as president to California to meet with him and survey damage. Newsom then visited Trump at the White House in February about aid for wildfire victims. The White House is now blaming Newsom for the protests in Los Angeles, bashing him for suing the administration instead of focusing on solutions. 'Gavin Newsom's feckless leadership is directly responsible for the lawless riots and violent attacks on law enforcement in Los Angeles. Instead of filing baseless lawsuits meant to score political points with his left-wing base, Newsom should focus on protecting Americans by restoring law and order to his state,' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said. Trump on Sunday didn't rule out using the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to deploy the military and federalize the National Guard in the event of an insurrection. He considered invoking the law in his first term during the 2020 protests over police brutality, but officials like former Defense Secretary Mark Esper pushed back at the time. 'We're going to have troops everywhere. We're not going to let this happen to our country. We're not going to let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden and his auto pen,' Trump said Sunday. The president also said that if California officials stand in the way of federal officials deporting migrants, they will face federal charges. 'We're just going to see what happens. If we think there's a serious insurrection … we're going to have law and order,' he said. California Democrats are responding to Trump by calling on residents to not turn to violence while protesting, arguing that the president's move to bring in the National Guard was meant to provoke the chaos. 'Angelenos — don't engage in violence and chaos. Don't give the administration what they want,' Mayor Karen Bass said on X. Similarly, Newsom warned other states about Trump federalizing the National Guard and accused him of escalating the situation. 'This is exactly what Donald Trump wanted,' Newsom said on X. 'He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard. The order he signed doesn't just apply to CA. It will allow him to go into ANY STATE and do the same thing. We're suing him.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
US Army, FAA, NTSB to brief senators on recent near miss incidents involving helicopter
By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Senior U.S. officials will answer questions from senators Wednesday about a May 1 incident in which two passenger airline flights were forced to abort landings at Reagan Washington National Airport because of a nearby Army helicopter. Brigadier General Matthew Braman, director of Army Aviation, Acting Federal Aviation Administration head Chris Rocheleau and National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy will appear at a closed-door roundtable meeting with a Senate Commerce subcommittee on aviation to discuss the recent near miss incident, said a spokesperson for Senator Jerry Moran who chairs the panel. On January 29, a Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines passenger jet near Reagan, killing 67 people. Separately, two dozen U.S. senators on Monday asked the inspector generals for the Pentagon and Transportation Department to open audits in response to the collision and ongoing coordination issues between the Army and air traffic control at Reagan (DCA). Moran's office said senators will also receive "an updated status on military helicopter operations in and around the DCA airspace." Rocheleau said last week the agency had barred the Army from training or priority transport flights after the incident. "We've shut those down until such time as we're comfortable with kind of what we call new rules of the road," Rocheleau said. The NTSB confirmed Homendy would take part. The FAA and Army did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Last week, a group of seven Democratic senators on Thursday introduced sweeping air safety legislation after the fatal collision. The Army told the Associated Press last month that military air traffic controllers lost contact with the helicopter for about 20 seconds as it neared the Pentagon on the May 1 flight. Delta Air Lines Flight 1671, an Airbus A319 that had originated in Orlando, and Republic Airways Flight 5825, an Embraer 170 that had departed from Boston, were both forced to perform go-arounds due to the nearby Army helicopter. The U.S. Army on May 5 suspended helicopter flights in the vicinity of the Pentagon after the incident. The FAA separately disclosed last month a hotline connecting the Pentagon and air traffic controllers at Reagan has been inoperable since March 2022.
