Syracuse University permanently expels fraternity over 'anti-Semitic' video

A fraternity at Syracuse University was permanently expelled Saturday.  (Syracuse University)

A fraternity at Syracuse University was permanently expelled Saturday after an offensive video surfaced that members say was intended as satire.
The New York school's Theta Tau chapter said on its website that one of its members this year is a conservative Republican, and the new members roasted him by playing the part of a racist conservative character.
"It was a satirical sketch of an uneducated, racist, homophobic, misogynist, sexist, ableist and intolerant person," the statement said. "The young man playing the part of this character nor the young man being roasted do not hold any of the horrible views espoused as a part of that sketch."
WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO BELOW 
Chancellor Kent Syverud apparently did not see the supposed humor in the sketch. He called the video "racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, ableist and sexist" in a video posted on the university's website.
He said disciplinary actions against the individual students involved could include suspension or expulsion. Syracuse.com reported that 18 students received citations, which are not criminal.
The video showed a group of men laughing uproariously at performances punctuated by racist language against blacks, Jews and Hispanics and simulated sex acts. Some students contend the video illustrates larger issues of racism and sexism at the university.
The Daily Orange posted the six-minute video on its website that depicts an oath: “I solemnly swear to always have hatred in my heart for n*****s, s***s and most importantly the f***ing k***s.”
The Syracuse chapter of Theta Tau, a national engineering fraternity, apologized for the video Friday and says its members believe racism "has no place on a university campus."
The school said it will never be allowed to release the names of the students in the video over federal privacy law. News of the skit circulated through the campus on Wednesday.
The fraternity did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the chapter's expulsion Saturday, the AP reported.
Syverud said that in addition to expelling the Theta Tau chapter, university official "have begun a top-to-bottom review of our entire Greek system."

Feinstein denies bowing to left-wing pressure on Trump's CIA nominee

California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Sunday bristled at the suggestion she is reflexively opposing President Trump's nominee for CIA director to bolster her liberal bona fides during her contested re-election campaign in the left-wing state.
In a testy exchange on CBS' "Face The Nation," Feinstein insisted she is only doing her "due diligence" on Gina Haspel, 61, and played down the role of her insurgent ultra-progressive challenger, state Sen. Kevin de León, in her decisionmaking.
Feinstein was pointedly rebuked in February by the California Democratic Party, which declined to endorse her run for Senate during its annual convention. A majority of delegates backed León.
"I am of the opinion that putting somebody right now at the head of the CIA who played a role in, let's say, torture is not necessarily appropriate," Feinstein told CBS host Margaret Brennan, echoing her past statements on Haspel. "I have met with Gina Haspel. I know her somewhat. I know that she is talented but I also know that she was fully supportive of the program that many of us are very critical of."
Haspel ran the CIA's first overseas detention site in Thailand, where imprisoned militants were repeatedly waterboarded, The New York Times reported in February 2017. The CIA declassified and released a 2011 memo clearing wrongdoing for her role in drafting an order to destroy videotaped evidence of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques.
In March, Feinstein drew widespread criticism from California progressives for referring to Haspel as a "good deputy director."
Feinstein said she wouldn't make a final decision on whether she supports Haspel until after her confirmation hearing.
Haspel would be the first woman to ever lead the CIA.
PROBE CLEARED HASPEL IN DESTRUCTION OF WATERBOARDING TAPES

"I care about who is head of the CIA, and I'm going to do my due diligence."

"There are those who are questioning whether it's possible for you personally to be supportive of her, given the pressures you are feeling from progressives back in your home state of California right now, that you just can't afford to support any Trump nominee," Brennan said. "Can you explain how you're weighing those things?"
Feinstein shot back: "Well, that isn't correct. Obviously, that's your interpretation of it, and you're welcome to that interpretation.
"I care about who is head of the CIA, and I'm going to do my due diligence, have a chance to ask her questions in the public arena and we'll do just that, and then we'll make up my mind whether I believe she's an appropriate person to head this agency," she continued.
While the vastly better-funded and more established Feinstein is widely expected to defeat León during the June primary, the upstart challenger is continuing to build momentum.
Earlier this month, billionaire Democratic donor Tom Steyer backed León, saying he "has proven himself to be the best of the next generation, and I am proud to support him for U.S. Senate."

Kneeling Kaepernick the Clown Cartoons

Media war on Trump continues around the clock, and other proof of media bias

The media war against President Trump continues without stop. Every hour of every day, somewhere a major media outlet is attacking the president. It might be with a news show. It might be on an entertainment program. It might even be a Pulitzer Prize-winning hip hop album that was chosen because it bashes Trump.
The American media are still angry they didn’t get to pick the president in 2016 and are doing their best to overturn the decision of voters.
This past week, in the midst of the media’s Comet Comey, there was still time for news outlets to bash Trump – whether it was CNN fixated on fired FBI Director James Comey’s prostitute allegations or journalists obsessed with President Trump’s use of the term “Mission Accomplished” for the U.S. strike against Syria.
The host for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Michelle Wolf, even mocked how Trump eats and dared him to attend the dinner. “Yeah! I dare you, you poor little man! I’ll give you $5 if you come,” the “Daily Show” writer said mockingly.
The media were just getting warmed up. Three separate dramas had plots where the president was removed from office. “Homeland,” “The Good Fight” and “Designated Survivor” all envisioned replacing their commander-in-chief. “Madam Secretary,” modeled after Hillary Clinton, went that route in January. Three of the four have preferred the popular liberal fantasy of the 25th Amendment solution.
In “Homeland,” the Cabinet moves against the president because of the “unprecedented” firing of a third of the Cabinet. (Sound like a hint?) “The Good Fight” actually made up a whole bunch of outlandish lies about President Trump, some of which it even admitted to, including that he “colluded with the Russians.”
One character summed up much of the media attack on the president in the real world, as she crafted an entirely fictional series of charges. “This isn’t about truth anymore. And it’s not about lying. It’s about who’s backtracking and who’s attacking,” she ranted.
“Saturday Night Live” even employed Robert De Niro in a skit where he played Special Counsel Robert Mueller. De Niro went on “Today” to fantasize about upcoming appearances. “I hope there’s a couple where I interrogate him, then I arrest him, and then I escort him to jail,” he chuckled.
That takes things to the Pulitzer Prizes: The Anti-Trump Edition. The awards included one for both The Washington Post and New York Times for trying to tie Trump to Russia. The Post also got one for helping Democrats win the Alabama U.S. Senate race.
But the special, “thumb in the eye of Trump,” came with a win for hip hop artist Kendrick Lamar. Here’s Sirius XM radio host Clay Cane celebrating how Lamar’s album “Damn” won. “In ‘The Heart Part 4,’ a pre-album track from ‘Damn,’ Lamar wrote, ‘Donald Trump is a chump, know how we feel, punk / Tell 'em that God comin' / And Russia need a replay button, y'all up to something."
The album, wrote Cane for CNN, “is a punch in the gut, a wake-up call to people who are in intellectual comas.” That’s 2018, where Pulitzers are decided because the media ridiculously, immaturely and irrationally hates Trump.
2. Cuba’s Castro Convertible Leadership: What do you call a Cuba without the Castro dictatorship? Not much different. Sure, the names change, but the socialist tyranny is the same.
Unless you are the leftie news media. News outlets around the world ran with the bogus story claiming Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez was “elected” the new president of Cuba. Other outlets referred to the “election.” Only Diaz-Canel ran unopposed in a typical Cuban farce. Just like the murderous Castros before him.
The Associated Press, that bastion of journalistic integrity, ran a story that the Washington Post headlined: “Miguel Diaz-Canel elected president of Cuba.” The Independent ran an identical headline with a lot more text.
NPR, paid for in part by your tax dollars, actually contradicted itself in one paragraph. It led with how Díaz-Canel “has been elected president of Cuba, officially ending the Castro family's decades of domination of the country's highest office.” Then it added how the event “might better be described as a coronation than an election.” And, of course, Raul Castro is still going to lead the nation’s Communist Party and it’s military.
Not exactly stepping down.
The Chicago Tribune deserves high marks for being more accurate. It ran the headline, “Miguel Diaz-Canel selected as next president of Cuba.”
3. Making Book on Politics: The real problem with media bias isn’t just bad news stories. It’s that you often need to find better stories to offset the original and cross-reference them. Here’s a great example.
CNN’s Senior Media Correspondent Brian Stelter wrote a ridiculously one-sided story about The New York Times best-seller list. In Stelter’s world, “Every top New York Times best-seller this year has been about Trump.”
The problem with that is that The Times has a ridiculously skewed list and conservatives have complained about it for years. That point gets no acknowledgement at all from Stelter. All he admits is that “there is a caveat about The Times list: Psychologist Jordan Peterson's book ‘12 Rules For Life’ has been a hot seller for months, and might have ranked No. 1, but because it is published by a Canadian company, it is not counted by the U.S. newspaper.”
Hardly the only caveat. Let’s turn to National Review and author Dennis Prager who wrote: “The Times Best-Seller List: Another Reason Americans Don’t Trust the Media.” Prager made a strong argument. “As a writer (who, for the record, had a previous book on that list), I have long known it isn’t a best-seller list.” His most recent book, “The Rational Bible: Exodus,” “opened up on Amazon as the second-best-selling book in America.” He looked to see if it was on the Times list. It wasn’t.
This argument wasn’t new. Even NPR knew about it back in September. “Conservative book publisher Regnery has announced that it will no longer use the New York Times best-seller list in its promotional materials. Regnery says it is biased,” it explained.
This all blew up on Wednesday, when the New York Times was confronted about its bias during a shareholders meeting. The Times even got into a Twitter war with Prager, because that’s the kind of thing a neutral outlet does with a best-selling author.
4. The Rap on Social Security: Just as death and taxes go together, so do Social Security and … Cardi B? The 25-year-old rapper made news this week not just for what she said, but for who agreed with her. Cardi, as the music industry calls her, sang the praises of President Franklin Delano RooWedsevelt during a recent GQ interview. “He's the real 'Make America Great Again,' because if it wasn't for him, old people wouldn't even get Social Security," she said.
Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders put the media into overdrive by commenting on the interview. “Cardi B is right. If we are really going to make America great we need to strengthen Social Security so that seniors are able to retire with the dignity they deserve.”
Billboard headlined its piece: “Bernie Sanders Quotes Noted Economist on Strengthening Social Security: 'Cardi B is Right.'” That article even went on to talk about Cardi’s political future. “Boom. Cardi said it. Sorry Kanye, but Cardi 2020?” Because 2020 has to be even more moronic than 2018. (Thanks to her age, that silliness has to wait until at least 2028.)
Other media outlets followed – CNN, Yahoo, The Hill – pretty much every outlet looking for clicks involving a pop star and an aging socialist. Any way the news media can hype a liberal narrative, they do it. Even something as stupid as this.
Thankfully, there’s always liberal Salon to push an even more liberal narrative. It wrote: “Bernie Sanders may sing Cardi B’s praises – but sex workers say he’s no ally.” Yes Cardi, “a former stripper,” suddenly was caught up in a new battle. Because news can always get more insipid. Always.

Mitt Romney faces Senate primary in Utah after state GOP convention setback

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney ran into an obstacle Saturday in his bid to succeed Utah’s retiring U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch.
At the state’s Republican Party convention in West Valley City, Romney finished second in votes from party delegates, behind state lawmaker Mike Kennedy.
That means Kennedy, who captured 50.18 percent of the delegate vote, and Romney (49.12 percent) will face each other in a GOP primary election June 26.
In comments after the vote, Romney kept an upbeat tone.
“I’m delighted with the outcome. Did very, very well,” Romney told Salt Lake City's FOX 13. “On to a good, important primary ahead. This is terrific for the people of Utah.”
Kennedy, too, was pleased with the results, the station reported.
“I’m a candidate with a compelling life story and a unique set of life circumstances I’d like to use to serve the people of Utah,” he told FOX 13.
Saturday’s convention lasted more than eight hours, mostly because of bickering over rules, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
The delegates at the convention tend to be more conservative than Utah’s general electorate, the newspaper noted.
Romney, 71, who ran against Barack Obama for president in 2012, went up against 11 other candidates seeking the Utah’s GOP nomination for U.S. Senate. Most of them were political newcomers who questioned Romney's criticism of President Donald Trump and the depth of his ties to Utah. (Romney is a former governor of Massachusetts, and his late father, George Romney, was a former governor of Michigan.)
Romney is perhaps best known in Utah for his chairmanship of the 2002 Winter Olympics, which were held in the state, and also because he was the first Mormon to be the presidential nominee of a major party. He moved to Utah after his 2012 campaign failed.
In launching his U.S. Senate bid, Romney has tried to keep the focus on state issues rather than his history of well-documented feuds with President Donald Trump, whom he called a "con man" and a phony during the 2016 race.
Trump fired back that Romney "choked like a dog" during his own White House run. But the two men have shown fresh signs of burying the hatchet, and Romney has accepted Trump's endorsement.
Hatch, 83, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, announced his retirement plans several months ago, despite efforts by President Trump to convince him to stay in Washington.

Kaepernick blasts 'lawful lynchings,' defends anthem protests while accepting Amnesty award

Former NFL quarterback and social justice activist Colin Kaepernick receives the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award for 2018 from Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty, right, in Amsterdam, April 21, 2018.  (Associated Press)

Free agent NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick accepted the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award on Saturday, as the human rights organization acknowledged his kneeling protests of racial injustice that launched a sports movement.
Amnesty grants its highest honor each year to a person or organization, “dedicated to fighting injustice and using their talents to inspire others.”
In his acceptance speech at the ceremony in Amsterdam, Kaepernick -- who has been criticized by President Donald Trump, members of the U.S. military and many NFL fans for staging his protests during the playing of the national anthem before games -- described police killings of African-Americans and Latinos in the U.S. as “lawful lynchings.”
“Racialized oppression and dehumanization is woven into the very fabric of our nation — the effects of which can be seen in the lawful lynching of black and brown people by the police, and the mass incarceration of black and brown lives in the prison industrial complex,” Kaepernick said.
He also defended his decision to stage his protests during the playing of the national anthem.
“How can you stand for the national anthem of a nation that preaches and propagates, ‘freedom and justice for all,’ that is so unjust to so many of the people living there?” he said in the Dutch capital.

“How can you stand for the national anthem of a nation that preaches and propagates, ‘freedom and justice for all,’ that is so unjust to so many of the people living there?”

Since parting ways with the San Francisco 49ers after the 2016 NFL season, Kaepernick, 30, has been unable to reach a contract deal with another NFL club. He missed the entire 2017 NFL season.
Since then, other NFL players, as well as athletes in other sports, have replicated Kaepernick's protest, in part because they believe the quarterback has been blackballed by the NFL.
Those protests drew the ire of President Trump, who called on team owners to fire such players.
“Can you believe that the disrespect for our Country, our Flag, our Anthem continues without penalty to the players,” Trump tweeted last November. “The Commissioner has lost control of the hemorrhaging league. Players are the boss!”
A recent negotiation between Kaepernick and the Seattle Seahawks fell through, reportedly because Kaepernick would not agree to end his protest, Fox News reported.
TRUMP TACKLES THE NFL AND NATIONAL ANTHEM: A TIMELINE
But in response to the player demonstrations, the NFL agreed to commit $90 million over the next seven years to social justice causes.
Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty called Kaepernick “an athlete who is now widely recognized for his activism because of his refusal to ignore or accept racial discrimination.”
In his remarks, Kaepernick also cited Malcolm X’s words of willingness to “join in with anyone – I don’t care what color you are – as long as you want to change this miserable condition that exists on this earth,” the Washington Post reported.
“In truth, this is an award that I share with all of the countless people throughout the world combating the human rights violations of police officers, and their uses of oppressive and excessive force,” Kaepernick said.

"This is an award that I share with all of the countless people throughout the world combating the human rights violations of police officers, and their uses of oppressive and excessive force.”
- Colin Kaepernick, Amnesty International award winner

Eric Reid, a 49ers teammate who protested alongside Kaepernick, presented the Amnesty award to him Saturday night.
Reid, a safety who also is now a free agent, continued Kaepernick’s protests by kneeling during the anthem last season.
Kaepernick paid tribute to his friend for his own role in the protest movement.
“Eric introducing me for this prestigious award brings me great joy,” Kaepernick said. “But I am also pained by the fact that his taking a knee, and demonstrating courage to protect the rights of black and brown people in America, has also led to his ostracization from the NFL when he is widely recognized as one of the best competitors in the game and in the prime of his career.”
Reid has said he will take a different approach in 2018.
Previous recipients of the Amnesty award have included anti-apartheid campaigner and South African President Nelson Mandela and Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who campaigned for girls’ right to education even after being shot by Taliban militants.

Republican Poster 1800s

Bush family welcomes baby 2 days after Barbara Bush's death

Portrait of the Bush family sitting in front of their home in Kennebunkport, Maine. BACK ROW: Maragret Bush (Marvin's wife), holding daughter Marshall, Marvin Bush, Bill LeBlond (Doro's Husband). FRONT ROW: Neil Bush holding son Pierce, Sharon (Neil's wife), George W. Bush holding daughter Barbara Bush, George Bush, Sam LeBlond (Doro's son), Doro Bush LeBlond, George P.

Neil Bush lost his mother Tuesday, but gained a grandson Thursday, completing what he called “the circle of life.”
Neil and Maria Bush's daughter Lauren, a granddaughter of former President George H.W. Bush and the late former first lady Barbara Bush, gave birth to a baby boy just two days after Barbara Bush died at age 92.
“Maria and I will always be grateful for being able to say a proper goodbye to our wonderful mother,” Neil Bush wrote on his Facebook page. “And then two days later, yesterday morning, two weeks before her due date, Lauren Bush Lauren gave birth to a beautiful 7 lb 8 oz baby boy Max Walker Lauren.”
Neil Bush’s daughter Lauren is married to David Lauren, son of fashion designer Ralph Lauren, the New York Daily News reported.
The couple also has a 2-year-old son James, the report said.
“Maria and I were so blessed to spend lots of time with mom and dad during mom’s last weeks and we are so grateful for the condolences and the outpouring of love expressed towards her by many, many friends,” Neil wrote on his Facebook.

“Maria and I were so blessed to spend lots of time with mom and dad during mom’s last weeks and we are so grateful for the condolences and the outpouring of love expressed towards her by many, many friends.”

Barbara and George H.W. Bush had six children together: former President George W. Bush, Robin, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Neil, Marvin and Dorothy. Robin Bush died of leukemia at age 3 in 1953.
A public visitation for the former first lady was held in Houston Friday. Her funeral is scheduled for Saturday, with burial at the George H.W. Bush library at Texas A&M University.

DC lawmaker accused of anti-Semitism reportedly gave constituent funds to Louis Farrakhan event

Trayon White reportedly donated $500 of constituent funds to a Nation of Islam event in which leader Louis Farrakhan made anti-Semitic comments.

A D.C. council member is under fire for allegedly donating $500 to a Nation of Islam event in which leader Louis Farrakhan declared that “powerful Jews are my enemy,” a new report claims.
According to The Washington Post, Trayon White Sr. made the Jan. 29 donation from an account for his constituents.
The private funds were reportedly raised by lawmakers with the intention of being used for members of the community.
Instead White, a Democrat representing Ward 8, allegedly donated to the Nation of Islam’s “Saviours Day,” a weekend gathering each year in which Farrakhan made controversial comments about Jews.
At that February event, Farrakhan railed against Jews, who he claimed were in charge of the FBI and “were responsible for all of this filth and degenerate behavior that Hollywood is putting out turning men into women and women into men.” At the event, Farrakhan also reportedly claimed that both “powerful Jews” and the government were his enemies.
White told The Post that he didn’t know about the donation, but defended the group in broader terms.
“The Brothers from the Nation are of the few men that show up to help . . . us address crime and social ills in Southeast. They also run a feeding program in several public housing communities in ward 8,” White reportedly wrote in a text message to the outlet. “I’m a Christian but I support a lot of people and all religions who support my community.”
An official with the Nation of Islam told The Post that White personally ordered the funds be provided to the group.
“He said to me, ‘I want you to make a payment to the Nation of Islam for Saviours’ Day,’” Darryl Ross, the group’s treasurer, told The Post. “So I went on the website to get the information I needed in order to make the payment.”
The controversy surrounding the contributions follows an outcry over previous anti-Semitic remarks White has made. Last month White claimed that rich Jews control the weather.
"Man, it just started snowing out of nowhere this morning, man," White said in a Facebook video. "Y'all better pay attention to this climate control, man, this climate manipulation.
"And that’s a model based off the Rothschilds controlling the climate to create natural disasters they can pay for to own the cities, man."
During the 19th century, the Rothschild family had one of the world's largest fortunes, amassed through banking and other endeavors.
In a subsequent visit to the Holocaust museum, White reportedly questioned the accuracy of the actions of a Nazi in a 1935 photograph.
White has a May 3 deadline to explain the donation to campaign finance officials and could be fined if they determine that the money given was improper.

Fresno State prof blasts farmers as 'stupid' Trump supporters in video rife with F-bombs

Randa Jarrar, an author and professor at Fresno State’s Department of English, sparked outrage for her comments on Twitter calling the late Barbara Bush an "amazing racist."  (California State University, Fresno)

A video posted online this week includes profanity-laced clips from past interviews and speeches by embattled, Bush-bashing Fresno State professor Randa Jarrar, in which she says farmers who support President Donald Trump are "just f---ing stupid."
The nearly 4-minute YouTube video, published Wednesday under the username Vigilante Goose, was emailed Friday to university officials -- including university President Joseph Castro, the Fresno Bee reported.

Jarrar, an English professor at the school, also known as California State University, Fresno, ignited a firestorm Tuesday, just after news broke about the death of Barbara Bush, whose funeral is scheduled for Saturday in Texas.
In Twitter posts Tuesday, Jarrar called the late first lady an “amazing racist,” and said she was “happy the witch is dead.”
WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
Outrage over the posts has had Castro and other university officials worried about alienating key donors -- and sparked debate among the faculty over the professor's free speech rights.
As part of the fallout, the university also has been dealing with reports that Jarrar listed the phone number of a student crisis line in Arizona as being her own number, resulting in a flood of calls to the crisis line.
'The bigger person'
The video posted this week opens with Jarrar commenting about the agriculture industry, which is vital to the Fresno area.
“A lot of the farmers now are Trump supporters and just f---ing stupid,” she says, adding that she “can’t f---ing stand the white, hetero-patriarchy.”

“A lot of the farmers now are Trump supporters and just f---ing stupid.”

At another point, Jarrar talks about guns, and criticizes "the left" for being too "gentle" in dealing with "the other side."
“I don’t give a f---. I’m buying guns. I’m an American, I’m buying guns,” Jarrar says. “You know what, the other side is doing some stupid s—t. I’m going to do some stupid s—t. I'm tired of, like, being the bigger person — literally am, usually — but, like, I'm also just tired of the left being, like, f---ing stupid and being like, ‘No we have to, like, be gentle' … no, don’t be f---ing gentle.'"
To some, the video may appear to be intended to embarrass the professor by recycling her most controversial comments, but the professor herself appears to view it differently, calling the compilation “iconic.”
"A troll made a beautiful clip of all my recent greatest hits,” Jarrar wrote on Twitter this week, and included a link to the video, the Bee reported.
Jarrar has since made her Twitter account private following the slew of tweets about Bush, in which she also said she “can’t wait for the rest of her family to fall to their demise the way 1.5 million Iraqis have.”
As for the fallout her posts have generated, Jarrar taunted that she “will never be fired” as she is a tenured professor making $100,000 per year, and “will always have people wanting to hear what I have to say.”
University president responds
Castro took to Twitter himself Thursday to address Jarrar’s comments that sparked national outrage, saying that he too was “upset” and believes it is “important for us to condemn that part of what was done and said,” while stressing the need to “continue to role-model leadership” while upholding the First Amendment rights.
“A single set of tweets does not define the success of our university,” he said.
The video shows Jarrar’s profanity-laced comments eliciting different reactions from audience members who heard her speak. But at one point it shows people walking during an appearance in Indiana, the Bee reported.
What was Jarrar's reaction?
“I’m so proud when people walk out of my talks," she says.