Politics

The Washington Post reports: GOP leaders this week announced plans for new oversight investigations of elite universities where — in the words of House Republican Whip Tom Emmer (Minn.) — “pro-terrorist anti-Semites [are] taking over.” And on Wednesday, they passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which its advocates said would empower the federal government to crack down on anti-Israel protests on …

Reuters reports: Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Wednesday he will break diplomatic relations with Israel over its actions in Gaza. Petro has already heavily criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and requested to join South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice. “Here in front of you, the government of change, of the president …

Phoenix’s NBC affiliate reports: The Arizona Senate has signed off on a bill to repeal an abortion ban dating back to the 19th century. Two Republicans, T.J. Shope and Shawnna Bolick, sided with Democrats on Wednesday to deliver enough votes to pass House Bill 2677, which would repeal a law that would only allow abortion in circumstances that would save …

“There’s a real Hamas wing of the Democratic Party who want to not help the Palestinians, but kill all the Jews. They say, ‘We are Hamas.’ There are radical elements within the Democratic Party and the country right now at large that would literally help destroy the Jewish state. We can’t wait to May 6 or 7. Mr. President, you …

“Everybody knows you’re going to wipe things down with Clorox before mold takes over your home. As soon as a protester goes to being a perpetrator, that needs to be shut down, it is time to shut it down and when they go to court and when they see a judge, a judge needs to say you will not go …

Mediaite reports: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) expressed shocking indifference about who wields the gavel in the House of Representatives. The fate of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) could soon be put to a vote after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) filed a motion to vacate the chair and is now threatening to force that vote. “We are passing the Democrat agenda …

NPR reports: Starting today, people can no longer access legal abortions in Florida beyond six weeks of pregnancy, except in rare circumstances. The restriction replaces a 15-week ban that’s been in effect since July 2022, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Abortion rights supporters say it will dramatically curb access to the procedure for thousands of …

The Huffington Post reports: “I guess it kind of makes it a little difficult for President Trump to find someone to be his [vice president]. He has to look for someone smarter than him, [a] better speaker than him and, like him, does not get burdened with principles,” Romney told HuffPost on Tuesday. The Utah senator also pushed back on …

NBC News reports: Democrats won a special election for a House seat in western New York on Tuesday, further shrinking the GOP’s narrow majority in the House. Democratic state Sen. Tim Kennedy defeated Republican town supervisor Gary Dickson in the 26th District, a reliably blue area that includes Buffalo and some of its surrounding suburbs. Democrats will now control 213 …

Florida Politics reports: A Republican Primary challenger to U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz failed to register several internet domains with his name. Now, Gaetz’s campaign has snapped them up, and will use them to publicize Aaron Dimmock’s record of supporting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The website AaronDimmockForCongress.com now directs web users to a website with the headline “Meet DEI Dimmock” …

“Look what’s happened in Denver, Colorado. Look what’s happened in Los Angeles, New York City. You know, I’ve talked to people that have moved from New York and they’re like, they used to have, you know, an apartment somewhere and it used to smell differently. “Now, what does it reek of? It reeks of marijuana. I don’t want the state …

The Associated Press reports: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to block a Texas law requiring pornographic websites to verify the age of their users. The justices rejected an emergency appeal filed by the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult entertainment industry. The provision of House Bill 1181, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, remains in …

“It happened on his watch. And I think it’s had a profound impact on him, despite everything. Because people said that shouldn’t have happened. They have the most sophisticated equipment. They had—everything was there to stop that. “And a lot of people knew about it, you know, thousands and thousands of people knew about it, but Israel didn’t know about …

The Washington Post reports: On Friday, Rep. Bill Posey became the latest member of Congress to announce his retirement plans unexpectedly in a way that benefited an ally and prevented voters from having as much of an electoral choice as they otherwise would have. Call it the filing-deadline two-step — an undemocratic dance if there ever was one. Posey qualified …

The Texas Tribune reports: A federal appeals court considering whether West Texas A&M University’s president violated the First Amendment when he canceled a campus drag show last year focused many of their questions Monday on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld campus non-discrimination policies. But the panel of three judges used that 2010 case — which said universities can …

Axios reports: A half-dozen conservative senators known as the “Breakfast Club” are banding together to try to influence the race for Senate GOP leader — and how the chamber would run with a Republican majority. The Breakfast Club is an unofficial group but it’s as close as the Senate gets to the House Freedom Caucus, which has been a persistent …

The Washington Examiner reports: Former California Rep. Kevin McCarthy has a chance for revenge against Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) in the form of a GOP primary challenger in the 2024 election. Former naval officer and aviator Aaron Dimmock filed his paperwork on Friday, the deadline, to run against Gaetz, who led a coalition of seven other House GOP members to …

The Hill reports: Hillary Clinton is the latest Democrat to troll South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) after she detailed in a forthcoming book how she shot her dog. “Still true,” Clinton wrote Monday on the social media platform X above a 2021 post that read, “Don’t vote for anyone you wouldn’t trust with your dog.” Noem shot her nearly …

“Yes, it was politically dumb for Noem to admit this. Yes, her political calculation misfired. I’m mixing metaphors. You get the point. But the third point is, Noem didn’t do anything wrong. You might say it wasn’t advisable. You might say there were better things she could have done. “She could have given the dog up for adoption. She could …

Axios reports: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said today at the World Economic Forum in Riyadh that Israel has given “a very generous” hostage deal proposal that could lead to a ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept it soon. White House officials say they are extremely focused on getting a deal and that the war in Gaza …