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Biden Against Bipartisanship in Congress
On Thursday the House passed the Lower Energy Costs Act, a GOP-led bill to boost fuel production and trade. Four Democrats joined the Republican majority to approve the final bill, which would ease permitting and repeal the tax and green subsidy provisions in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Two of the crossover votes were Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, both of whom previously backed the IRA. The two hail from South Texas districts that are threatened by Biden energy policies that raise consumer costs and stifle job growth in oil and gas.
More striking is how many Democrats distanced themselves from Mr. Biden with votes on the bill’s amendments. Remember when the Administration considered banning gas stoves but then swore it was all in Republicans’ heads? Dozens of House Democrats aren’t buying their story. Twenty-nine voted with the GOP to bar a future stove ban, and 48 approved a study of a ban’s potential harms. Other Democrats joined votes to publicize hidden regulatory costs and condemn proposed tax hikes on oil and gas.
Over in the Senate, four Democrats, plus the independent Kyrsten Sinema, joined the GOP in voting to rescind the Administration’s Waters of the United States rule, which could block development on millions of acres of private land. The 53-43 vote to repeal vote was taken under the Congressional Review Act, which gives legislators a chance to introduce resolutions to disapprove of regulations within 60 legislative days of their being reported to Congress. The House passed the same resolution on March 9.
Twenty-three Senate Democrats also joined Republicans to pass a resolution ending the national emergency regarding Covid-19, which the Education Department used to justify the President’s student loan forgiveness and payment pause. President Biden has said he will end the emergency in May, but a Senate majority doesn’t want to wait.
These challenges to the President’s policies are likely to meet different fates. Mr. Biden will sign the emergency ending because he’d probably be overridden. He’ll veto the repeal of the waters rule, but the Supreme Court will issue a judgment soon on the constitutional reach of federal water regulation. He also says he’ll veto the House energy bill, and it won’t overcome a Senate filibuster, at least not now.
Yet the Democrats breaking from political lockstep reveal the rank-and-file unease over Mr. Biden’s low approval rating and could have a bigger effect down the road. Planks in the energy bill, such as easier permitting, are likely to be included in future budget or debt-ceiling bills, and watch out if gasoline prices spike in 2024. Mr. Biden is the man blocking genuine bipartisanship now.
And:
President Biden's pressure and Israel's Judiciary Reform
Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, "Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative"
Israel's proposed Judiciary Reform ranks very low on President Biden's order of priorities, far below scores of pressing domestic, foreign and national security threats and challenges.
Therefore, he has not studied the various articles of the reform, but leverages the explosive Israeli domestic controversy as a means to intensify pressure on Israel, in order to:
*Gradually, force Israel back to the 1967 ceasefire lines;
*End Jewish construction and proliferate Arab construction in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank);
*Advance the establishment of a Palestinian state on the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria, which overpower the coastal sliver of pre-1967 Israel;
*Re-divide Jerusalem;
*Prevent game-changing Israeli military actions against Palestinian terrorists and Iran's Ayatollahs.
Israel's Judiciary Reform and US democracy
If the President and his advisors had studied the proposed reform, they would have noticed the Israeli attempt to adopt key features of the US democratic system, which would end the current situation of Israel's Judiciary as Israel's supreme branch of government. The reform aims to provide Israel's Legislature and Executive branches with the effective authority (currently infringed by the Judiciary) to exercise the responsibility accorded to them by the constituency.
For example:
*Israeli Supreme Court Justices should not be appointed – as they are today - by a committee, which is controlled by Justices (who possess a veto power) and lawyers, but rather by a committee, dominated by legislators;
*The Attorney General and the Legal Advisors of Cabinet Departments should be appointed (and fired) by - and subordinated to - the Executive, not the Judiciary. Their role should be to advise, and not to approve or veto policy matters, as it is today. Their advice should not be binding, as it is today.
*Supreme Court Justices should not be empowered to overturn Basic Laws (Israel's mini-Constitution).
*Supreme Court Justices should have a limited power to nullify and overturn legislation.
*Supreme Court Justices should decide cases according to the Basic Laws and existing legislation, and not resort to the reasonableness of the legislation (which is utterly subjective), as is the case today.
*The Supreme Court should not be able to overturn legislation by three – out of fifteen – Justices, as is the case today.
*The Supreme Court should be supreme to lower level courts, not to the Legislature and Executive, as it is today.
President Biden's pressuring Israel
*President Biden's pressuring Israel reflects the return of the US State Department to the center-stage of policy-making. The State Department opposed Israel's establishment in 1948, has been a systematic critic of Israel since then, and has been consistently wrong on crucial Middle East issues.
*This pressure on Israel represents the multilateral and cosmopolitan worldview of the State Department establishment, in general, and Secretary Blinken and National Security Advisor Sullivan, in particular. This worldview espouses a common ideological and strategic denominator with the UN, International Organizations and Europe, rather than the unilateral US action of foreign policy and US national security. It examines the Middle East through Western lenses, assuming that dramatic financial and diplomatic gestures would convince Iran's Ayatollahs and Palestinian terrorists to abandon deeply-rooted, fanatic ideologies in favor of peaceful-coexistence, enhanced standard of living and good-faith negotiation. Middle East reality has proven such assumptions to be wrong.
*President Biden's pressure mirrors the routine of presidential pressure on Israel since 1948 (except 2017-2020), which has always resulted in short-term tension/friction and occasional punishment, such as a suspension of delivery of military systems and not vetoing UN condemnations of Israel.
*However, since 1948, simultaneously with presidential pressure on Israel, there has been a dramatic enhancement of mutually-beneficial defense and commercial cooperation, as determined by vital US interests, recognizing Israel's unique technological and military capabilities and growing role as a leading force and dollar multiplier for the US. Israel's unique contribution to the US defense and aerospace industries, high tech sector, armed forces and intelligence has transcended US foreign aid to Israel, and has eclipsed US-Israel friction over less critical issues (e.g., the Palestinian issue).
*The current bilateral friction is very moderate compared to prior frictions, such as the Obama-Netanyahu tension over the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran; the US' brutal opposition to Israel's bombing of Iraq's and Syria's nuclear reactors; the US' ferocious resentment of Israel's application of its law to the Golan Heights; the US' determined opposition to the reunification of Jerusalem, and the renewal of Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights and Greater Jerusalem; and the US' strong-handed pressure for Israel to withdraw to the suicidal 1947 Partition lines; etc.
*In hindsight, the US pressure on Israel was based on erroneous assumptions, which could have undermined vital US interests, if not for Israel's defiance of pressure. For example, Israel's refraining from bombing Iraq's and Syria's nuclear reactors in 1981 and 2007 would have confronted the US and the world at-large with a potential nuclear confrontation in 1991 and a potential Syrian nuclearized civil war since 2011.
*Rogue Middle East regimes consider US pressure on Israel as an erosion of Israel's posture of deterrence, and therefore an inducement to the intensified threat of terrorism and war, which gravely destabilize the region and undermine US interests (while advancing the interests of China, Russia and Iran's Ayatollahs), threatening the survival of pro-US vulnerable oil-producing Arab regimes.
*Most Israeli Prime Ministers – especially from Ben Gurion through Shamir – defied presidential pressure, which yielded short-term friction and erosion in popularity, but accorded Israel long-term enhanced strategic respect. On a rainy day, the US prefers allies, which stand up to pressure, and are driven by clear principles and national security requirements.
*Succumbing to – and accommodating - US presidential pressure ignores precedents, overlooks Israel's base of support in the co-equal, co-determining US Legislature, undermines Israel's posture of deterrence, whets the appetite of anti-US and anti-Israel rogue regimes, and adds fuel to the Middle East fire at the expense of Israel's and US' national security and economic interests.
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Hillel leaders give Israel a wakeup call - opinion
What sets the incarnation of university-based antisemitism apart from its modern predecessors is that no single Jewish institution has been spared from its grasp.
Antisemitism in the United States: Antisemitic graffiti on The Rock landmark at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, blaming Jews for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, September, 2019 (photo credit: ADL)
Last year, I sank an anti-Israel BDS campaign at Princeton. Today, I’m calling attention to our inept Jewish leadership in the face of soaring Jew-hatred.
Hardly a day passes by when I am not inundated with harrowing tales of antisemitism rearing its ugly head on the university quad. American-Jewish students today are routinely pressured to conceal their Jewish identities, disavow Jewish student organizations, and support the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement in order to gain entry into progressive campus circles.
Israel conducts naval drill with five other countries
Reams of data compiled within the past four years indicate the academy’s increasingly sharp turn against Jewish students, amplified by an administrative Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) complex that traffics in post-colonial ideology and anti-white racism.
What sets this incarnation of university-based antisemitism apart from its modern predecessors, though, is that no single Jewish institution has been spared from its grasp. Campus Hillels (Jewish campus organizations) in particular, despite their pluralistic bent, are often on the receiving end of these pressures.
As the chief architect of Princeton’s anti-BDS effort in the spring of 2022, I witnessed this firsthand: a protest in front of my school’s Hillel against an Israel summer activities fair snowballed into a highly sensationalized BDS campaign that was ultimately defeated through laborious efforts.
But just as these institutions have been inoculated into the Israel debate by our opponents, they have sadly shown a significant ineptitude at defending their own members from these hostilities.
I once again speak from personal experience. At the height of the BDS campaign last spring, my Hillel placed its full weight behind me as I navigated the challenges of defeating BDS amid an antagonistic student body, cowardly university administration, and apathetic Jewish community.
Then, upon my return to school the following semester, the Hillel refused to entertain any of my suggested reforms to re-energize Jewish and pro-Israel students. Instead, it doubled down on inflating purposeless bureaucracies and gave me no choice but to step down from the numerous Hillel leadership positions and board memberships I had held for years.
Ultimately, my frustration drove me away from the Hillel community altogether, but I cannot help but continue to feel an immense degree of concern for those Jewish students who remain involved and have been overlooked by stagnant Hillel leadership.
Overwhelmed by a medley of pressures, numerous other Hillels across the country have also lost their way. A friend of mine who attends Washington University in St. Louis is so disillusioned by the myopia of his school’s Hillel that he no longer participates in Jewish life on campus.
Another, formerly based at a small liberal arts college in Maryland, was “canceled” by most of his classmates for attending a Birthright trip to Israel and opted to drop out of school after his Hillel was unresponsive.
Deterioration in American Jewish response to Jew-hatred
WHILE THESE behaviors are not reflective of every Hillel nationwide, they represent a disturbing deterioration in the American-Jewish community’s response to Jew-hatred, given that the epicenter of the phenomenon now sits squarely – and, for many American Jews, inconveniently – on the political Left. That American universities’ hubs of Jewish student life are unwilling to undertake forceful steps to confront this skyrocketing trend ought to be worrying to all of us.
Fortunately, some on the periphery of this crisis have chosen to act and have made significant inroads into the public discourse through their grassroots activism. Veteran community leaders Charles Jacobs and Avi Goldwasser recently founded the Jewish Leadership Project with the aim of holding derelict Jewish leaders accountable for their inaction.
I, too, have sought to do my part by conceiving my substack “Kavod” in late 2022 as a means to inform, educate, and innovate new strategies to defend our beloved Jewish community against this mounting catastrophe.
However, for those positioned in the eye of the storm – our Jewish community leaders at American college campuses – some serious soul-searching is in order if this cataclysm is to be curtailed.
Effective philosemitic advocacy in the ivory tower will take the form of something substantively different than the types of “activism” many university Hillels showcase today, such as weekly convening of rudderless advisory committees, administration-approved “antisemitism workshops” and “listening sessions” featuring anti-Israel participants, and highly-lawyered, equivocal statements in response to anti-Israel campus activity.
Instead, it will require honest, accountable relationships between Hillel staff and university administrators that are rooted in the former’s willingness to prioritize the concerns of Jewish students over personal ties; decisive top-down leadership in the face of rising campus hostilities; and an ironclad commitment from Hillel leaders to place their own reputations on the line in defense of Israel and the Jewish people.
No amount of window dressing, whether in the form of bureaucratic expansion or ritualistic practices, will yield nearly the same positive outcome.
Campus Hillels: the American-Jewish community charges you with the mighty responsibility of shaping our next generation of leaders and visionaries. You can still change course if you so choose, but time is running out. Now is the time to act.
The writer is a student at Princeton University and former president of Tigers for Israel. He can be reached at jaredstone@princeton.edu.
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All Evidence Points to Iran in Thwarted Greece Terror Plotby Ioannis E. Kotoulas
ATHENS, GREECE – Two Pakistani terrorists accused of plotting to attack Jewish targets here made their first court appearance Friday morning. Syed Irtaza Haider, 27, and Saqi Abid Hussein, 29, were arrested Tuesday for plotting to attack a kosher restaurant in downtown Athens which also is home to the Jewish community center Chabad House. Police say they were led by a third Pakistani, Syed Hakar, operating out of Iran. The attackers hoped to strike in early April during the Jewish Passover and Greek Easter. Greek counter-terrorism police and intelligence services launched "Operation Hyacinth" last August after Israel's Mossad intelligence agency tipped them to the plot. Information disclosed since the arrests solidify the terrorist cell's links to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), designated by the United States as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The arrests have received very little attention in the United States. This report is based on Greek media coverage and interviews. Hakar is a member of a Pakistani criminal network associated with the IRGC. He is wanted in Pakistan for four murders and abductions and is suspected in additional cases. Hakar is part of an IRGC-affiliated Islamist network that recruits Pakistanis, Azeris and Kurds abroad to conduct terrorist attacks. Greek police have arrested eight more migrants for questioning. They all come from Sargodha, a Pakistani town in the Punjab region. At least two of them admit to being in contact with the two arrested terrorists, who tried to recruit them into the operation. "The hard part was locating them, because they changed places of residence and work and used to cohabitate with many other individuals," a Greek intelligence source told Greece's iefimerida news outlet. "To this purpose, we used human sources to arrest them." The two prime suspects admitted participating in the plot and to communicating with the Iranian-based mastermind. They used WhatsApp to send encrypted messages with the Tehran-based handler, along with photos and videos of the targets. Videos taken in December show the Gostijo kosher restaurant and Israelis who go there for the food or other Chabad activities. The two suspects entered Greece illegally in 2018 from neighboring Turkey, officials say. Haider was the leader and had constant contact with Hakar in Iran. Hakar gave Haider the restaurant's location, along with a list of Israelis who could be targeted for assassination attempts. Hakar also instructed them how to take pictures of the targets without drawing suspicion. The pair was promised $18,000 for each person killed. The entire plot, therefore, from the targets to the planning and financing, came from Iran. "This group was recruited via Whatsapp widely used by terrorists in Asia and the Middle East," Greek security analyst Alexandros Niklan of Geopolitics and Daily News told the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT). "They tried to recruit people from the organized criminal underworld of Greece to procure their weapons. They were actually trying to build an expanded network of terrorists for more future operations. If the attack against the Jewish restaurant was successful, there would be multiple casualties in a strike reminiscent of the Bataclan deadly attack in Paris. They had already picked a second target, as the Tehran-based leader was insisting on locating an Israeli 'businessman with a beard'." The cell also coordinated with Hakar on an escape plan. After the deadly attack at the Jewish restaurant, they would flee Greece through smuggling networks and go to Iran, where they would receive additional financial help. Hakar claimed that he would deposit money in a Pakistani bank account after the attack. They could use the money to return to Pakistan and buy houses. Greek authorities are now investigating whether the two suspects have been paid thus far, although that likely would be done through a difficult to trace hawala informal fund transfer system. Investigators already have detected transfers of small sums to two of the two suspects' relatives. Intercepted Terrorist Communication The Greek newspaper published transcripts of the intercepted conversations among the terror cell members, which are translated by the IPT:
In another conversation, they discussed procuring weapons for the attack. Initially, they had talked about the use of explosives, but Haider said he was not familiar with their use.
Part of a Greater Islamist Network As details emerged this week, Iran rushed to deny the allegations. In a statement, the Iranian embassy in Greece said it was "refuting intensely the rumors spread by Zionist sources and the unfounded charges. It is evident that these trumped-up charges aim to distract attention from their [Israeli] internal crisis." But the foiled operation in Athens should be viewed in the context of other Iranian-led terrorist operations in countries as Cyprus and Turkey. Each involved attempts to kill Israelis and Jews as part of Iran's covert anti-Israeli operations and Islamist terrorist network abroad. Ten Iranian and Turkish operatives were arrested in Istanbul last June plotting to murder Israeli tourists. Similar to the Greece plot, Iran had promised considerable sums for each dead Israeli. In October 2021, Cyprus police broke up a terrorist cell involving five Pakistanis – similar to the Greece plot – and a 38-year old Azeri national. They were preparing to attack Israeli businessmen in Cyprus. Orkhan Asadov, 38, the Azerbaijani national, had Hizballah-related images on his phone. He reportedly is connected to the "Movement of Islamic Unity," an Iranian arm that coordinates operatives abroad. A Pakistani cell member who acted as a recruiter had links to Zainabiyoun Brigade, active in Syria, which is under command and control of the IRGC Quds Force. "Τhe modus operandi of the terrorist attack planned in Greece shows analogies with previous cases in Cyprus," investigative journalist Marios Poullados of Cypriot media network Sigma Live and Simerini newspaper told the IPT. "In September 2021, the Cyprus police in cooperation with the Israeli intelligence service, arrested six people in connection with an alleged plan to attack Israeli businessmen in Cyprus. The Azeri mastermind was arrested while crossing from the Turkish-occupied north through a Nicosia checkpoint carrying a gun, a silencer and bullets. It is also worth mentioning that in May 2015, a 26-year-old member of Hizballah's military wing residing in Larnaca was arrested after two tons of ammonia nitrate were found in his home. According to intel information, the plan was to use ammonia for terrorist attacks in Cyprus against Israeli interests." In fact, it was the Cyprus arrests that first alerted Greek intelligence to the possible existence of similar networks in Greece. They put Pakistani migrants with suspected radical links under constant surveillance. This line of research, along with Israeli intelligence, led to the final dismantling of the terrorist cell. "Research should be made into possible links of the terrorist cell with the Zainabiyoun Brigade," Niklan told the IPT. In all these cases, operational patterns bear the distinct footprint of Iranian involvement. The theocratic regime employs non-Iranians, such as Pakistanis and Azeris, to carry out terrorist operations against Israeli targets abroad. This tactic is done in hopes of evading detection by intelligence agencies of the targeted countries. Recruits are courted with a mixture of Islamist messages, anti-Israeli feelings and financial rewards. What remains unknown in this latest case is who was going to provide the reward – equaling to hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars – for a successful attack? Who provided the names of the Israeli citizens who would be targets? It is possible authorities already know. Cooperation between Greek and Israeli intelligence services led to a significant victory against international Islamist terrorism, highlighting the importance of trusted cooperation among nations facing common dangers.
Copyright © 2023. Investigative Project on Terrorism. All rights reserved. | ||
The IPT accepts no funding from outside the United States, or from any governmental agency or political or religious institutions. Your support of The Investigative Project on Terrorism is critical in winning a battle we cannot afford to lose. All donations are tax-deductible. Click here to donate online. The Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation is a recognized 501(c)3 organization. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ PRESIDENTS’ REPORT FROM THE BOARD OF VISITORS AND GOVERNORS MEETING MARCH 2023 HOME ABOUT ST. JOHN'S BOARD OF VISITORS & GOVERNORS MARCH UPDATE 2023 ABOUT ST. JOHN'S HISTORY TRADITIONS LEADERSHIP PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTMENT FACTS & STATISTICS BOARD OF VISITORS & GOVERNORS Charter & Polity Task Forces POLICIES & PROCEDURES CAREERS AFTER ST. JOHN'S Welcoming New Leaders This year is a time of enormous change at St. John’s as we welcome multiple new leaders to their roles. On Saturday, March 25, we inaugurated President Nora Demleitner as the college’s first female president in a jubilant ceremony that included speeches from Board of Visitors and Governors chair Ron Fielding, collegewide president Mark Roosevelt, Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley, Maryland State Senator Sarah Elfreth, delegates and friends from other colleges, and more. Read President Demleitner’s speech and watch the ceremony’s livestream. We also welcomed next year’s incoming deans, whose tenures begin in July: Sarah Davis as dean in Santa Fe; Susan Paalman as dean in Annapolis; and Brendan Boyle as associate dean of Graduate Programs in Annapolis. At our June board meeting, we will thank and honor our outgoing deans, whose exceptional service has stewarded the college through a period of both tumult and revitalization. In addition, there have been several college officer-level promotions. Ally Gontang-Highfield was promoted to vice president for Finance & Operations/CFO after the recent retirement of Mike Duran. Danielle Lico was promoted to vice president for Student Affairs in Annapolis and Christine Guevara was promoted to vice president for Student Engagement in Santa Fe. The latter promotions are part of a larger revisioning for student services at St. John’s, where students have long needed more robust supports. Today, the needs are even greater as is true at colleges across higher education in the United States. Finances Although we are thankful for a hard-won balanced budget, the next two years are anticipated to be quite challenging due to a combination of inflationary pressures, a volatile stock market that has negatively affected the endowment, and our first weakening enrollment projection in several years. The good news is that we expect our endowment challenges to be short-lived, as many significant gifts to the campaign will soon be deposited into the endowment. We expect our enrollment challenges to continue for reasons discussed in the Enrollment section of this email. At present, the college receives $10 million less in student-derived revenue than we did over a decade ago; this reflects national trends and is due to the fact that a growing number of American families can no longer pay substantial portions of college tuition costs. Currently, the larger endowment draw compensates for just one-third of this lost revenue. However, once all campaign gifts are in the endowment, and assuming a stable market, our increased endowment draw will cover this lost revenue. Enrollment Although enrollment on both campuses remains strong this year, the college faces growing national headwinds which are too strong for strategic work in Admissions alone to overcome. These headwinds are best summed up by the term demographic cliff and shift, which indicates the reality that the college-age population will shrink by as much as 15 percent to 20 percent over the decade, beginning in 2025—a consequence of the 2008 recession. At the same time, higher percentages of students will arrive at college with fewer financial resources and higher expectations for support. These trends will require us to shift our thinking and strategies for yielding and retaining new students. St. John’s is already the most socioeconomically diverse college in our peer group, the Small College Consortium, with the highest percentage of Pell Grant recipients and highest percentage of students on financial aid. A shift in strategy has already begun, as we work to restructure our operations to more effectively support diverse students and provide them with a welcoming home in which they can thrive. All of these changes will require expansive visioning and increased philanthropy. The Graduate Institute shows increased enrollment, catalyzed by strong numbers from the low-residency program. We are analyzing whether we can grow even more in the coming years. Student Well-Being, Belonging, And Retention Retention of students remains a top priority for the college. Over the last few years, the college has added a great many academic, social, financial, emotional, cultural, and professional supports. But we know we must keep at this work, as our numbers have not budged, in good part due to the dramatic and negative impact of the pandemic. At this board meeting, we focused on new initiatives in Annapolis aimed at improving the student experience. These initiatives include: the creation of a sophisticated new student health center that provides an integrative model for health and wellness, bringing therapists, nurses, a destress lounge and more together into one inviting and holistic space; and plans for a new predictive, rather than reactive, approach to maximizing student activities and support that will better contribute to student well-being. In addition, newly completed renovations to Mellon Hall have provided students with a revamped Mitchell Art Museum; new studio theater; new music rehearsal space; and updated gathering spaces that are more conducive to community gathering and conversation. Renovations to the residence halls have also begun, with a major upgrade of Campbell Hall commencing after a campus-wide planning effort focused on Campbell’s public spaces. Advancement The college is preparing to celebrate the successful completion of the Freeing Minds capital campaign at our board meeting in June. As we look ahead to that day, it is important to pause and realize that meeting this ambitious goal is a tremendous achievement for a small college like St. John’s—and we are grateful for our alumni, donors, and friends who made it possible. Now we must turn our attention to maintaining a healthy Annual Fund with efforts such as our first St. John’s Giving Day and to St. John’s Forever: Building for the Future, our ten-year campus improvement campaign made possible by the Pritzker Challenge—which is a challenge grant from the Jay Pritzker Family Foundation that matches $1 for every $2 raised for a total of $75 million in campus improvement funds. The Pritzker Challenge will become our fundraising priority and will fund renovations over the next few years of the Pritzker Student Center in Santa Fe and multiple residence halls in Annapolis. Fielding-Rumore Hall Renaming In addition to the presidential inauguration, we celebrated our longtime board chair Ron Fielding (A70) and his wife, Susan Lobell (A70), for their service to the college with a renaming of Randall Hall to Fielding-Rumore Hall. Rumore was Susan’s last name while a student when she and Ron met as freshmen on their first day at the college. Both had student worker jobs in Randall Hall’s dining facilities, making the building a fitting choice to bear their names. It is an understatement to say that the college would not be where it is today without them. Ron and Susan spoke eloquently of the positive effect that St. John’s has had on their lives—so much so that we asked them to share their commentary with us so that we may share it with our community in our upcoming alumni magazine. Stay tuned! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Richard, Radical, woke, left-wing bureaucrats appointed by Gavin Newsom are now pushing for California – a state where slavery NEVER existed – to pay out $640 BILLION in taxpayer funds to black residents as “reparations” for slavery. Again – slavery NEVER even existed in California! So why on earth should today’s California taxpayers be on the hook?! As a black American, I am here to tell you that I am 100% against reparations. I’m tired of the woke Left trying to make victims out of every single black man, woman, and child, and make racist oppressors out of every single white man, woman, and child. This effort by the Left to divide us by race is only fostering more racism. And too often it results in racism toward whites, as if that brand of racism is okay and somehow makes everything better. It’s gone so far that the Los Angeles Times can now get away with publishing fake news blaming whites who drive cars in Los Angeles for polluting black residents’ air... LAT: How white and affluent drivers are polluting the air breathed by L.A.’s people of color Are you kidding me?! In truth, the Left have become the perpetrators of a new brand racism in today’s society, and I’ve had enough of the media giving them a free pass. I need your help to amplify my voice and show the rest of America that not ALL black Americans agree with the Left’s racial propaganda, and I won’t allow them to make a victim out of me. Please chip in $5, $50 or whatever you can to stand with me and fight back against their narrative and promote conservative solutions that can foster exceptionalism, prosperity, and security once more in America. +++++++++++++++++++++++ | ||
IPT Senior Fellow
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