Menachem Begin Warned Us about Joe Biden

Natan EhrenreichMay 9, 2024

Above one of the classroom whiteboards in the Jewish day school I attended as a child hung a poster featuring the face of former Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin alongside a quote:“I’m not a Jew with trembling knees.”

I would be tempted to say that our present circumstances call for a proud Jew to tell that toJoe Biden=, but the fact is that he’s already been told— by Begin himself. In 1982, at a closed-door meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden had threatened Begin with cutting off military aid== for Israel’s offensive campaign in Lebanon. As Tevi Troy noted in the Wall Street Journal, the story went that Begin responded in fiery outrage:

Don’t threaten us with cutting off aid to give up our principles. I’m not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And, when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your aid.

Forty-two years later, Joe Biden has learned nothing.

But we have learned who Joe Biden truly is. That he is doing exactly what he threatened Begin with over four decades ago suggests that Biden’s actions in pledging to withhold weaponry for an Israeli offensive into Rafah, however surprising they might seem to some, are drawn from a long-standing outlook toward Israel. In other words,Biden threatening to cut off aidto the Jewish state if it takes measures against its enemiesis a feature, rather than a bug, of his decades-old policy.

Menachem Begin saw clearly. We can’t say we weren’t warned.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/menachem-begin-warned-us-about-joe-biden/

Ex-MLB infielder Sean Burroughs dead at 43 after collapsing during son’s Little League game

forDylan Svoboda

May 10, 2024, 4:53 p.m. ET

Former MLB player Sean Burroughs passed away on Thursday after collapsing while dropping off his son for a Little League baseball game, according to the Orange County Register.

He was just 43 years old.

Burroughs, who was an assistant coach for his 6-year-old son, Knox, reportedly fell unconscious next to his car and after he was unresponsive while CPR was administered at the scene, he was pronounced dead.

His mother, Debbie, told the OC Register that the cause of death was cardiac arrest.

The son of 1974 American League MVP Jeff Burroughs, Sean had a long history in baseball.

As a youth, Burroughs starred for his Long Beach, Calif. Little League team, leading them to two straight titles in 1992 and 1993.

In 1998, Burroughs was drafted No. 9 overall by the San Diego Padres and would make his big league debut with the team at 21 years old in 2002.

Before making it to the majors, Burroughs won a Gold Medal with the United States during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Burroughs would go on to play seven seasons in the big leagues, playing in 528 games overall while putting up a .278/.335/.355 slash line.

He spent his first four seasons in the show with San Diego from 2002 to 2005.

Burroughs had the best season of his career in 2003 when he hit .286/.352/.402 with seven home runs and seven stolen bases in 146 games as the Padres’ starting third baseman.

In 2006, Burroughs joined the Tampa Bay Devil Rays but played in just eight games before being released. A year later, he had a minor league stint with the Seattle Mariners but never made it out of Triple-A.

Out of baseball from 2008-10, Burroughs entered a dark place as he struggled with addiction, “abusing every substance he could ingest,” as he told ESPN, before making a triumphant comeback to the diamond.

After three years away from the field, the Arizona Diamondbacks signed Burroughs to a minor league contract ahead of the 2011 season. He would play in 78 games that season.

Burroughs got one more chance in the majors with the Minnesota Twins.

He played in 10 games during what would be his last appearances at the highest level.

https://nypost.com/2024/05/10/sports/sean-burroughs-dead-at-43-after-collapsing-during-sons-little-league-game/

Reposting, British student challenging Nancy Pelosi on her smear of Populism.

Citizen Free Press

@CitizenFreePres

This is outstanding.

Nancy Pelosi waltzes into Oxford Union Debate and gets a populist spanking from Winston Marshall.

Nancy interrupts several times.

13:54

7:33 AM · May 11, 2024

·

53.2K

Views

https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1789257632525492558

He points out the hypocrisy of Pelosi politely with recent US history, and she reveals, she’s sticking to her lies about Trump and populist citizens. This was quite entertaining.

HERE’S THE DAMNING VIDEO CLIP THAT JUST LANDED TRUMP’S TRIAL JUDGE IN HOT WATER…

May 10, 2024 (a day ago)

In the never-ending circus we call our judicial system, another scandal has burst onto the scene. This time, it’s involving an activist judge attempting to take down President Trump. Enter Judge Engoron…

Now, a hotshot lawyer turned accidental “whistleblower” has called him out for being so incredibly unprofessional that he ought to be de-robed and tossed off the bench by the scruff of his neck. It turns out that Judge Arthur Engoron is now under investigation for allegedly taking “unsolicited advice” from this high-priced real estate lawyer. This so-called “hotshot advice” came right before the Engoron ruled against Trump in the New York City case, which starred Trump-hating prosecutor Letitia James. You’ll recall that Engoron ordered Trump and his company to pay $354 million in fines—a figure that balloons to $453.5 million with all the extras factored in.

==“Trump fraud trial judge Arthur Engoron 'under investigation' for allegedly receiving unsolicited advice from high-profile lawyer

before fining former president $454

million”==

By Stephen M. Lepore For Dailymail.Com 09 May 2024,

It was this video that sparked everything. This controversial anti-Trump hotshot lawyer was so eager to see the president go down that he offered the judge “unsolicited advice” just before the ruling was made.In case you didn’t know, that’s a big legal no-no.

Just like all the other sham cases against President Trump, this case should have been tossed out of court a long time ago.

The Independent:

The judge in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial is now under investigation after a hotshot New York real estate attorney claimed he gave him unsolicited advice ahead of the hotly-anticipated multi-million-dollar ruling, according to a report.

Attorney Adam Leitman Bailey told NBC New York that he spoke to Judge Arthur Engoron three weeks before he made his final judgment in the former president’s case, where he found Mr Trump, his two oldest sons, as well as their Trump Organization associates and properties liable for $464m for falsely inflating his assets.

“I actually had the ability to speak to him three weeks ago,” Mr Bailey told the outlet on February 16, the date of the judge’s decision.

“I saw him in the corner [near the courthouse] and I told my client, ‘I need to go.’ And I walked over and we started talking … I wanted him to know what I think and why…I really want him to get it right.”

This claim prompted the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct to launch an investigation into the alleged interaction, NBC News reported. The commission’s administrator Robert Tembeckjian declined to comment on behalf of the judicial body, saying it “is constrained by a strict confidentiality statute.”

A spokesperson for the New York State’s Office of Court Administration has rejected Mr Bailey’s claim that he gave Judge Engoron advice.

Everyone knows Engoron is a corrupt activist judge, more obsessed with taking down a political enemy of the regime than actually upholding justice. As a matter of fact, Engoron’s entire team is anti-Trump, even his top clerk.

LivePDDave:

Meet disgusting slob Allison Greenfield – corrupt judge Arthur Engoron’s top clerk. She’s the heifer behind all the gag orders to protect her flaming anti-Trump bias. She passes notes to Engoron all day during proceedings, improperly influencing his decisions. She has also violated judicial rules preventing officers of the court from making excessive political donations. In 2022 alone, Greenfield gave thousands of dollars in political donations to radical Democrat causes that exceeded a $500 threshold for court officials in aggregate donations for a calendar year.

Clearly, Trump Derangement Syndrome has hit the judicial community like a ton of bricks. Now, let’s see if anyone steps up to address this sideshow involving Engoron, holding the activist judge accountable, and finally tossing him and the case out of court.

https://x.com/Huberton/status/1788643944265371997

https://revolver.news/2024/05/damning-video-clip-lands-trump-trial-judge-engoron-in-hot-water/

Citizen Free Press

@CitizenFreePres

Bill Maher blows up the Manhattan case against Trump.

'Stormy Daniels is a horrible witness.'

Listen to what Stormy told Bill Maher.

From

The Vigilant Fox

7:47 AM · May 11, 2024

·

62.7K

Views

https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1789260922042650988

>>20852082

Bill Maher is never gonna get what he wants, he is top holder of Severe TDS, its a new category STDS. Yes he has STDS from having sex with anyone or anything.

>>20852107

Yep and they will be severely disappointed again

>>20851888

Axios are chock full of Conspiracy Theories, they always make up gossip. Trump is anti war, why would he consider a Neocon that loves war and death, he wouldn’t. Plus she’d be the replacement of Pence to work against Trump for 4 years.

A President has to consider public opinion on the VP, 85% of US hates her immensely.

Axios just makes up crap constantly

>>20851954

He’s a hateful little shit

>>20852077

Seems like the majority is. Mike Davis and Trump team needs to purge all Federal Judge lefties put in place, especially DC courts

>>20852081

They are less and less effective

Citizen Free Press

@CitizenFreePres

Trump says New Jersey is in play. We can win there.

That would officially make 10 swing states.

The usual 7 plus Virginia, Minnesota and New Jersey.

Trump is polling within 3 pts of Biden in Virginia.

from Salty Texan

10:07 AM · May 11, 2024

12.3K

Views

https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1789296306738868252

Citizen Free Press

@CitizenFreePres

Huge crowds line the streets for Trump in New Jersey.

From

Freedom

10:35 AM · May 11, 2024

11.3K

Views

https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1789303248618205571

I bet there will be a big overflow, the place holds up to 40,000 people

Did Ashley Biden Accuse Joe Biden of Inappropriate Behavior in a 'Leaked Diary'?

"I will forever have to deal with the fact that my personal journal can be viewed online," Ashley Biden wrote to a district court judge.

Alex Kasprak

Published Dec. 7, 2022

Updated April 29, 2024

Claim:

A diary authored by U.S. President Joe Biden's daughter, Ashley Biden, describes actions taken toward her by her father when she was a child as "probably not appropriate."

Rating: True

True

About this rating

Note: On April 29, 2024, Snopes changed the rating of this fact check from "Unproven" to "True" based on testimony provided by Ashley Biden. In an April 8 letter to a New York judge requesting jail time for one of the two people convicted of stealing her diary, Biden wrote, "I will forever have to deal with the fact that my personal journal can be viewed online."

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ashley-biden-leaked-diary-accusation/

Snopes finally admits what everyone knew from day one, but it’s not like anyone uses Snopes for fact checks!

Bring Them Home: The Five Americans Still Held Hostage by Hamas 1/2

ELIZABETH WEIBEL10 May 2024

There are still five American hostages being held by Hamas.And though our leaders seem to have forgotten them, the American people have not.

Hamas murdered 1,200 people in Israel in the October 7, 2023, terror attack, and took more than 250 hostages. While some hostages have been freed, there are still roughly 130 hostages still being heldby Hamas — not all of whom are still alive.

Five of them are U.S. citizens.

The five American hostages who are still in Hamas’ captivity are; Keith Siegel, 65, Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, Omer Neutra, 22, Edan Alexander, 20, and Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23.

Here is a brief description of each.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin

The last time Goldberg-Polin’s parents saw him, was on October 6, the night before Hamas’ attack on Israel, right before he left to go camping with a friend, Aner Shapira. His mother, Rachel Goldberg, last heard from her son the next morning, receiving two texts from him. In one, he told his parents that he loved them. The other text message said: “I’m sorry.”

The family later found out that Goldberg-Polin and Shapira, had attended the Supernova music festival, where 364 concertgoers were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists. Goldberg-Polin and Shapira were able to find a roadside rocket shelter.

As they were hiding in the shelter, Hamas terrorists threw grenades into it, resulting in Goldberg-Polin’s left arm being blown off from the elbow down. He then tied a tourniquet around his own arm.

Shapira, who was later buried at Mount Herzl Cemetery in Jerusalem, threw grenades back out of the shelter, according to eyewitnesses. After some point, Hamas terrorists informed the people in the shelter to come with them and Goldberg-Polin was taken into a pickup truck with other hostages.

Keith Siegel

Keith Siegel and his wife Aviva Siegel, 62, were taken hostage by Palestinian civilians from their home in the kibbutz of Kfar Aza. After being driven to Gaza in their own vehicle, the couple was then sold to Hamas terrorists. Aviva Siegel was later released during a truce in November 2023 and has since spoken out about her time in captivity.

During an interview with CBC News in April, Aviva Siegel explained that the couple had been “moved 13 times” and had encountered “lots of terrorists,” describing each as being “worse than the other.” Keith Siegel had moved to Israel in 1980, years after his brother Lee Siegel had done so, and he met his wife, Aviva, on the kibbutz where Lee and Keith’s sister-in-law had lived. The couple later moved to the Kfar Aza kibbutz and raised four children.

One of their children, Shir Siegel, had tried to call both of her parents on Saturday, only to be informed that her parents were unable to talk.

Sagui Dekel-Chen

The son of Connecticut-born Jonathan Dekel-Chen, Sagui Dekel-Chen lived on the Nir Oz kibbutz with his wife, Avital, and their children. Sagui’s parents also live on the same kibbutz. In an interview with the Times of Israel, Sagui’s father explained that his son and others had sounded the alarm in their kibbutz after seeing “heavily armed and precisely organized” Hamas terrorists going through their community.

After checking on his wife and children, Sagui went outside with others from the kibbutz security team and fought against Hamas terrorists for hours. “My daughter-in-law and the kids are now traumatized,” Dekel-Chen told the outlet. “Avital heard her husband struggling in hand-to-hand combat.”

In April, relatives and friends of the 36 people from Kibbutz Nir Or held a Passover seder with empty chairs featuring photos of each of the hostages. Sagui’s mom, Neomit Dekel-Chen, was also taken hostage. She was reportedly able to escape after Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers in a helicopter shot at Hamas terrorists and the driver of an electric cart heading to Gaza with the hostages.

https://12ft.io/proxy

>>20852297

2/2

Edan Alexander

Edan Alexander was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey. After graduating from high school, he went on to join the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion. At the time of Hamas’ attack, he had been stationed near the Gaza Strip, and a little after 6:30 a.m., he had informed his mom, Yael Alexander that he was safe.

However, around 7:00 a.m., she was not able to reach her son and a week later the family discovered Edan was among those taken hostage by Hamas. Yael explained to NBC News in an interview that when she was told her son was among the hostages, she knew they had “hope now.”

“When they told me that, I was like, breathing for a second, because I knew, OK, so we have a hope now,” she said.

Omer Neutra

At the time of Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, Omer Neutra had been serving as a tank commander near Gaza. After graduating from high school in New York City, Omer went to Israel and enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces.

He went there for the right reasons, you know, he felt that he wanted to protect, and he’s not the kind of guy that was looking for a war,” Omer’s mom, Orna Neutra explained. The last time Omer’s parents heard from him was the day before Hamas’ attack.

Both Omer Neutra and Edan Alexander were stationed near the Gaza border and reportedly knew each other. “We didn’t know the family beforehand, but after the fact, we’ve been told that our boys knew each other and that they shared a lot, being that they had a similar background,” Omer’s mom said.

https://12ft.io/proxy

Kash Patel would have them back within two weeks of Oct. 7th

>>20852328

No he’s far too important at Truth Social

Mike Lee

@BasedMikeLee

Congressional Democrats insist that the SAVE Act—which requires proof of citizenship to establish eligibility to vote in federal elections—is unnecessary because federal law (18 USC § 611) already prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections.

Those making this argument ignore a glaring problem:the government officials who register voters and conduct federal elections aren’t allowed to require proof of citizenship.

It’s therefore shockingly easy for non-citizens to vote in federal elections, leaving our elections dangerously vulnerable to foreign interference.

Anyone—even an illegal alien or other non-citizen—can register to vote in federal elections, just by checking a box and signing a form.

This is all on the honor system. No proof of citizenship is required.

It’s not just that state officials—who are responsible for federal voter registration and elections in our country—don’t verify citizenship in this context;it’s that the Supreme Court has told them that they’re not allowed to do so.

In Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, 570 U.S. 1 (2013), the Court held that the National Voter Registration Act (“NVRA,” known as the “Motor Voter” law) prohibits states from requiring proof of citizenship when processing federal voter-registration forms.

The SAVE Act would fix this gaping loophole by requiring anyone registering to vote in federal elections to provide proof of citizenship.

It would also require states to review existing federal voter-registration files and remove all non-citizens.

Remember: every state except South Carolina issues driver’s licenses to non-citizens, and 19 states issue them to illegal aliens.

This, coupled with the Motor Voter law and the Supreme Court’s ruling, makes it shockingly easy for aliens—legal and illegal—to vote in federal elections, even though they’re prohibited from doing so.

Considering that there are now nearly 30 million non-citizens in the U.S., including about 12 million who have entered illegally since the last presidential election, we desperately need the SAVE Act.

While Democrats are already mocking the SAVE Act, they don’t dispute that non-citizens shouldn’t vote in federal elections.

Rather, they insist that there’s no need for the bill because non-citizens—being prohibited by law from voting in federal elections—categorically do not vote in such elections.

That argument fails for one simple reason: it implausibly assumes universal compliance with a law that has become breathtakingly easy (and correspondingly tempting) to violate.

Some say that non-citizens wouldn’t dare register to vote in federal elections, as doing so is illegal and could adversely affect their present or future immigration status.

Even if this assumption were correct with regard to many (or even most) non-citizens in the U.S., that still wouldn’t disprove the need for the SAVE Act.

If even a tiny percentage of America’s 30 million non-citizens were to vote, they could change the outcome of a close federal election.

And, as noted by the

@I_A_Project

, it’s odd for the left to insist so vehemently that illegal aliens don’t vote, given that congressional Democrats have inserted language “to waive inadmissibility for illegal voting in all [their] amnesty bills.”

Democrats can’t have it both ways; they can’t (1) credibly say that illegal aliens don’t vote in federal elections, and then (2) expect us to forget their own proposals, which assume the opposite is true.

In any event, and regardless of how many (or few) non-citizens may have voted in the past, why not take steps to prevent it from happening in the future?

The sanctity of your vote is at stake.

Now more than ever, we need to make sure that our elections are fair, lawfully conducted, and free of foreign influence.

To do that, it’s imperative that Congress pass the SAVE Act.

If you agree, please like and share this post—and ask your members of Congress to cosponsor the SAVE Act today!

https://dailysignal.com/2024/05/08/roy-lee-introduce-bill-to-require-citizenship-proof-to-vote/

https://x.com/BasedMikeLee/status/1788968650000801874

Jesse Watters: CNN is already 'planting the seeds' to blame Russia if Trump wins

May 10, 2024

Fox News host Jesse Watters breaks down how President Biden has 'splintered' Democrats' once solid base as former President Trump leads Biden in polling on 'Jesse Watters Primetime.'

https://youtu.be/n8SM65p8K_U

Another letter that will be ignored, unless Jordan gives them consequences

https://x.com/JudiciaryGOP/status/1788620991612281305

Rep. Matt Gaetz

@RepMattGaetz

BREAKING: I was informed today by the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons that my request to interview

@RealPNavarro

would be denied. And her reason is that Peter Navarro is “too notorious” to be interviewed by a member of Congress!

John Gotti was interviewed in prison. The QAnon Shaman was interviewed in prison. Director Peters HERSELF brought NBC News THROUGH PRISONS to showcase the work of corrections that’s being done!

This only vindicates the claim made by Peter Navarro that he is being held as a political prisoner.

May 6, 2024

1.9M

Views

https://x.com/RepMattGaetz/status/1787632541828092199

Congressman, do something about the courts, they create the problems

Truman Scholarships overwhelmingly awarded to progressive students for tenth year in row

BENJAMIN ROTHOVE - UNIV OF WISCONSIN MADISON

MAY 10, 2024

Meanwhile, fewer than one in 10 are openly conservative, analysis finds

Nearly three in four recipientsof this year’s prestigious, federally funded Truman Scholarship have clear ties to Democratic politicians or progressive causes, a College Fix analysis found.

Approximately43 of the 60 students have worked for Democratic politicians, advocated for progressive causes, or identify as left-leaning — continuing an annual trend exposed in past Fixanalyses.

In contrast, only five scholars have worked for Republican politicians, advocated for conservative causes, or identify as right-leaning. The College Fix determined this information based on provided biographies, LinkedIn profiles, and email inquiries.

Terry Babcock-Lumish, the executive secretary of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, told The Fix in a recent email the foundation does not consider students’ political affiliation “as a criteria for selection.”

“The Truman Foundation’s selection process is based solely on applicants’ demonstrated commitment to public service, leadership potential, and academic excellence,” she said.

Babcock-Lumish said the foundation often does not know applicants’ political affiliations and students regularly work for politicians “with whom their beliefs are not 100% aligned.”

She continued, “Our annual competition requires nominations from undergraduate institutions, so the Truman Scholars we select are reflective of the pool of candidates that we have before us. If students are not nominated or do not apply, we cannot select them. Accordingly, let me again ask The College Fix to encourage readers making commitments to careers in public service to apply.”

TheDemocratic politicianswhom the 2024 scholarship winners have worked or interned forinclude Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, California Rep. Adam Schiff, Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, and Michigan state Rep. Abraham Aiyash.

Awardees also have been involved withleft-wing organizations, including Planned Parenthood Generation Action, College Democrats, Young Democrats, Equal Rights Advocates, and Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Resolution.

Additionally, some have advocated for progressive issues such as “the safety of LGBTQ+ disabled youth,” “racial justice activism,” “pro-union policies,” “environmental justice,” and “social justice and equity,” The Fix analysis found.

A few of this year’s recipients worked for Republican politicians, including Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty, Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, and Tennessee Rep. Diana Harshbarger.

The remaining 12 recipients did not respond to inquiries from The Fix about their political leanings, and their ideologies could not be definitively determined based on public information.

Issues considered politically neutral by The Fix include cleaning waterways, removing invasive species, tackling aviation safety challenges, addressing rural mental healthcare access, researching agricultural sustainability, and “designing prescribed fire programs for the National Park Service.”

Truman Scholarships have beendisproportionately awarded to progressive recipients every year since at least 2015,according to past Fix analyses. In both 2018 and 2021, zero openly conservative students were awarded a Truman Scholarship.

Last year, The Fix found only four scholarship winners publicly identified as conservative, while 29 recipients had evident ties to progressive causes.

The $30,000 scholarship is awarded to approximately 60 students annually, selected from a pool of about 800 applicants. Awardees pledge to spend three of their first seven years after finishing graduate school in public service.The scholarship foundation was established by Congress as a federal memorial to President Harry Truman.

Current board members include Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, Texas Republican Rep. Kay Granger, Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran, New Jersey Democrat Rep. Andy Kim, and Hawaii Democrat Sen. Brian Schatz.

https://www.thecollegefix.com/truman-scholarship-overwhelmingly-awarded-to-progressive-students-for-tenth-year-in-row/

Employers more skeptical of hiring Ivy League grads, survey finds

MICAIAH BILGER - ASSISTANT EDITOR

MAY 9, 2024

Results follow reports of grade inflation, plagiarism, antisemitism, and more

An Ivy League diploma is losing its worth in many employers’ eyes.

A recent Forbes survey found employers have grown more skeptical of applicants from the most prestigious schools in the U.S. in thepast five years– a period marked by race-based admissions, grade inflation, antisemitism, plagiarism, and leadership “double standards.”

According to the survey,one in three employers said they are less likely to hire an Ivy League graduate= than they were five years ago. Meanwhile, only 7 percent said they were more likely== to hire them.

Employers’ hesitation was specific to the Ivy Leagues, too.

The survey found42 percent of hiring managers are more likely to hire public university graduatesand 37 percent private university graduates, compared to five years ago.

What’s more,hiring managers were three times as likely to say public universities have improved in preparing studentsfor jobs than Ivy League universities. Just 14 percent said Ivy Leagues have gotten better at preparing students, while 37 percent said public universities have, the survey found.

Forbes reports:

“The bloom has been off the Ivies,” says Fred Prager, a senior managing director at Hilltop Securities and a trustee at California’s Claremont McKenna College whose investment firm specializes in higher education. “What has occurred more recently, with the pandemic and with all this nonsense going on, post October 7th, and all the rest has just been a bit of an accelerant.” […]

“Being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes is really important,” says Laura Bier, a San Diego-based management consultant specializing in healthcare and defense. “Kids who’ve been to a public school have had a broader diversity of friends from different backgrounds, teachers from different backgrounds and are better able to be nimble in those situations.”

The results are hardly a surprise.Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania lost several major donors– and later both their presidents resigned – amid criticism about their handling of antisemitism on campus.

Major law firms and judges also have issued letters to top law schoolsthat raise concerns about their priorities and warn students about antisemitic activism.

Who can blame them?When “diversity” and “equity” take priority over merit and nearly every student receives an A,it’s hard for employers to figure out who is the best candidate for the job.

When universities quietly let slide calls for the “genocide” of Jews while allowing students to shout down those who believe it’s wrong to kill an unborn baby – and a majority of students believe that’s acceptable, employers are going to wonder about the values of Ivy League applicants.

The point of college is to prepare students for successful careers.It’s clear the Ivy Leagues need a major re-evaluation of their prioritiesand missions. Trustees, administrators, andespecially parents and future students should be paying attention.

(Get rid of radical left administrators)

https://www.thecollegefix.com/employers-more-skeptical-of-hiring-ivy-league-grads-survey-finds/

Planet Fitness membership drop ‘significant’ over transgender customer shaving in women’s locker room — hikes prices

Lisa Fickenscher

Planet Fitness admitted it suffered a “fairly significant” drop in membership sign-ups after one of its gyms unleashed a media firestorm by allowing a transgender customer to shave in the women’s locker room — and the company plans to hike prices by 50%.

Executives slashed its forecasts for sales and profitson Thursday, blaming in part the March 11 incident at a Planet Fitness in Fairbanks, Alaska that went viral after outraged member Patricia Silva posted a video about confronting the transgender customer.

“The first part of March was pretty good,” Chief Financial Officer Tom Fitzgerald said Thursday after release of weaker-than-expected first-quarter revenue.

“And then once social media sort of blew up over our policy issue, we definitely saw a change in the results in the back half of March.Joins and cancels were fairly significantly affected.”

The company ended the quarter with 19.6 million members — an 8% increase from a year ago that missed internal expectations, according to DA Davidson analyst Linda Bolton Weiser. Thecompany also saw a double-digit drop in traffic to its website, Bolton Weiser said in a research note.

“It is my hope that throughout the globe Planet Fitness members will continue canceling their membership until this woke organization ‘chooses’ to care enough about women’s rights and for children and remove men from a women’s locker room,” Silva told The Post on Friday.

Planet Fitness said it now expects this year’s revenue to rise by 4% to 6%, compared with its previous estimate of a 6% to 7%. It forecast that profits will be up between 7% and 9%, compared with its previous estimate of a 10% to 11% increase.

Craig Benson — interim chief executive at the nation’s largest gym chain, which operates 2,500 locations — echoed his financial chief.

“Media mentions relating to the incident peaked in the middle of March, which we believe contributes to some of the softness we saw in joins for the balance of the month as well as some increase in cancels,” Benson said.

He added: ”The good news is we’ve seen the joins rebound, but cancels have remained elevated.”

Still, the company, famous for its inexpensive $10 membership fees, said it’s raising prices to $15 for new members beginning in the summer — the first hike since 1998. Planet Fitness had been testing higher prices in some markets before the uproar.

“It will take some time for the benefit of the price change to expand our store level margins as the price increase will only be on new classic card memberships,” said Fitzgerald, who is retiring in August.

Silva unleashed the backlash after snapping a photo of the transgender customer in the women’s locker room. Later, she posted a video in which she said that while the transgender customer was shaving a young girl sat on a bench with a towel wrapped around her and looked uneasy or “frightened.”

In response, Planet Fitness revoked Silva’s membership the next day for violating the gym’s policy of taking photos inside the gym. Meanwhile, the company assigned an employee to accompany the transgender customer to the women’s locker room.

The company’s decade-old policy allows members and guests to use the facilities that “best align with their sincere, self-reported gender identity,” the company said.

The decision sparked an outcry around the country, with the company reportedly getting dozens of bomb threats nationwide. The company’s market value plunged by more than $400 million amid boycott calls.

Benson said on Thursday that its policy is not dissimilar from other gyms, including the YMCA.

Next month, Colleen Keating, who had required employees to undergo “unconscious bias training” and supported “hiring through a DEI lens” at her previous company, will replace Benson as the new CEO.

In September, longtime CEO Chris Rondreau was unexpectedly ousted. In February, he left the board as the company slashed 9% of its workforce.

https://nypost.com/2024/05/10/business/planet-fitness-membership-losses-significant-after-transgender-situation/

How retailers like Best Buy, T.J. Maxx and Home Depot quietly target ‘problem’ returners

FRI, MAY 10 2024

Devan Burris@DEVAN_BURRIS

(Big Brother)

It’s no secret that retailers are cracking down on returns.

In 2023, 81% of U.S. retailers implemented pay-to-return policies in some capacity. Amazon, Macy’s, T.J.Maxx, Walmart and Staples all rolled out changes to their established return policies. That may look like shrinking return windows, charging for some returns, or in some cases simply telling shoppers to “keep it”

Shoppers racked up more than $5 trillion worth of retail sales in the U.S. last year, according to the National Retail Federation.About 14.5% of those sales were returned. That equates to an enormous value in returned goods: $743 billion in 2023 alone.

“Most of the returns that come back cost up to 40% of the original retail price to put that item back on the shelf,” said Robert Overstreet, Iowa State assistant professor of supply chain management. “There’s no guarantee they can sell it for what they originally asked for it, so they’re losing money on both ends.”

The recent changes are just the latest effort to tamp down on return losses. Many large retailers in the U.S. havelong been engaged in the practice of quietly tracking and targeting return behavior. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, U.S. retailers use third-party loss-prevention services to track risky return behavior. This doesn’t outright mean fraudulent activity, but rather behavior that “mimics” or could be linked to such behavior.

The most notable third-party loss-prevention service is The Retail Equation, a software provider that tracks return behavior that retailers deem potentially fraudulent.It then assigns a return score to shoppers based on the data provided by retailers, giving the software the ability to override a store’s return policy, leaving shoppers with no refund and a printed notice directing them to The Retail Equation’s website to explain why their return was blocked.

The problem is, many shoppers are unaware this type of tracking is even happening, leaving many feeling blindsided when they get to a return counter and are told they are not getting their money back.Or, even worse, they get banned from the practice of returning products to the store altogether.

According to several now-dismissed lawsuitsand Better Business Bureau complaints, customers reported they were following a store’s return policy and were still issued a warning. Some customers complained theinformation found on their report given by The Retail Equation was incorrectand that they were left with no way of knowing or remedying the information until after their return was rebuffed.

Watch the video above to hear more about how this tracking works and what types of behaviors might get a shopper flagged as a ‘problem returner’.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/10/how-best-buy-tj-maxx-home-depot-quietly-target-problem-returners.html