FACT CHECK: Viral Biden Snub from Kentucky Derby Winner Sadly Debunked

Ben Sellers
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FACT CHECK: Viral Biden Snub from Kentucky Derby Winner Sadly Debunked

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Several social-media accounts on TikTok and Twitter sought to capitalize on the underdog success story of Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan and his jockey, Brian Hernandez Jr., in what appeared to be a too-good-to-be-true swipe at President Joe Biden.

Unfortunately, that’s because it was.

The meme quickly endeared the affable Hernandez—a native of Louisiana’s Cajun country—to conservatives.

Its drole turn of phrase was appropriately suited to Biden’s notoriously brash temperament, as well as his physical appearance: “If I wanted to stare at a horse’s ass, I would have finished second.”

Immediately, however, it might have registered as suspicious to those in the know, considering the second- and third- place finishers in the derby—Sierra Leone and Forever Young, respectively—would not have had a view of Mystik Dan’s posterior.

“That’s not a comment from Brian,” Hernandez’s wife, Jamie, confirmed in a text message to Headline USA.

The story went viral after Saturday’s photo finish saw Mystik Dan literally win by a nose, with Hernandez using the inside track to his advantage.

With 20-to-1 odds going into the race, the duo’s win likely left a few big betters drowning their sorrows in a bottle of Woodford Reserve, while those who were particularly confident in odds-on favorite Fierceness (15th place) likely had to settle for the more economical Old Forester.

Mystik Dan’s victory appeared to have caught even his trainer, Kenny McPeek, by surprise, with questions abounding as to whether the horse had the stamina to pursue the highly coveted triple crown by competing in the upcoming Preakness and Belmont Stakes races.

Preakness, in Baltimore, takes place on May 18, meaning there would be just a two-week turnarond if he were to run.

Between the celebrations, the interviews and the tight training schedule, it would hardly be the time for Hernandez to foist himself into a contentious political debate, subjecting himself to vitriol of the leftist media and online trolls—not to mention the possibility of brick-wielding Antifa terrorists showing up in Louisville.

As for Mystik Dan—who was traveling to Saratoga, N.Y., this week to scout out the track where the Belmont race will be run in June—some speculated that the rose-winning colt might have time for a quick roll in the hay in Manhattan, where “Horseface” porn star Stormy Daniels was delivering her testimony Wednesday against former President Donald Trump.

Ben Sellers is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/realbensellers.

Gold Up 4 Percent in April Despite Headwinds

Money Metals News Service
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Gold Up 4 Percent in April Despite Headwinds

(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) Gold was up 4 percent in April, despite some profit-taking, along with headwinds from a strong dollar and waning hope for an interest rate cut.

Gold hit a new all-time high of 2,431 in April, but pulled back later in the month as hopes the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates in the near future faded.

Even with Fed hawkishness, the price of gold seems to have found solid support above $2,300.

The price of gold is up about 13.7 percent since it started its bull run in late February. 

Gold charted gains in virtually every major currency last month.

What Drove the Gold Price in April?

According to the World Gold Council, central bank gold buying and Chinese investor demand supported the gold price in May, even with profit-taking and an easing of geopolitical pressures dampening safe-haven demand.

The World Gold Council has not compiled central bank gold data for April at this time, but central bank demand likely followed the trend we’ve seen over the last two years with strong net buying driven by China and other emerging market central banks. Central bank net demand totaled 290 tons in Q1, the strongest start to any year on record.

Meanwhile, gold demand in Asia, particularly China, has been robust for months. Wholesale demand in China set a record in January. Assets under management by Chinese gold-backed ETFs also hit an all-time high.

Gold demand in China was up 28 percent in 2023 and analysts and Metals Focus project continued solid demand through the rest of the year.

First quarter gold demand globally came in at the highest level since 2016. The details reflect this strong central bank demand, along with a shift in gold from West to East.  

Looking Ahead

The World Gold Council has picked up on the stagflation warning signs. While the mainstream view has shifted from a “soft landing” to a “no landing” scenario with moderating growth along with persistent price inflation in a higher-for-longer interest rate environment.

But the World Gold Council called economic growth “precarious” noting that it would depend on further government support and strength in the labor market, “both factors that open the door for event risk.”

Fiscal stimulus is already at an extremely high level in the United States with the Biden Administration spending over half a trillion dollars every month. In fact, the level of government spending and the resulting national debt is one of the factors thwarting the Federal Reserve inflation fight.

That’s because the two primary weapons the Fed uses against price inflation are interest rate increases and balance sheet reductions. Both become increasingly difficult to wield as the national debt spirals upward. 

As the World Gold Council put it, “Inflation remains sticky.”

“The outlook seems to point once again to ‘stagflation’, which, in turn, is helping the case for gold and could encourage Western investors to join strong demand from central banks and Far East buyers.”

… 

“The levels of inflation and growth deceleration we are seeing now are not as precarious as those experienced during the 1970s period of stagflation. But our analysis suggests that we do not need a repeat of those extreme conditions for stocks to be under pressure. Conversely, gold will likely respond positively to the combination of sticky inflation and less-than-stellar growth.”

Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for MoneyMetals.com with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.

Is the American Consumer Tapped Out? Credit Card Borrowing Tanked in March

Money Metals News Service
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Is the American Consumer Tapped Out? Credit Card Borrowing Tanked in March

(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) Have Americans finally maxed out their credit cards? It looks like they may have and that’s bad news for an economy that has run on credit cards for the last year.

According to the latest data released by the Federal Reserve, revolving credit cratered in March. Meanwhile, non-revolving credit continued to grow at a tepid rate, a trend we’ve seen for well over a year.

Both of these data points signal the American consumer may well be tapped out. 

Overall, the growth of consumer debt slowed considerably. Consumer credit grew by a modest $6.3 billion, a 1.5 percent increase. Americans now owe $5.06 trillion in consumer debt.

The Federal Reserve consumer debt figures include credit card debt, student loans, and auto loans, but do not factor in mortgage debt. When you include mortgages, U.S. households are buried under a record level of debt. As of the end of 2023, total household debt stood at $17.5 trillion

Pundits and politicians have talked up the “robust economy” and the “resilient” American consumer for months, but this economic growth was courtesy of Visa and Mastercard. It was not exactly a sustainable economic trajectory. 

Now, it looks like the American consumer might have maxed out the credit card, or they’re at least feeling the strain of sky-high interest rates.

Revolving debt, primarily reflecting credit card balances, barely budged in March, growing by just 0.1 percent, a $200 million increase.

Even with credit card use tanking, American consumers are still buried under a record $1.34 trillion in revolving debt.

The double whammy of rising debt and interest rates exacerbates the debt problem. Average credit card interest rates eclipsed the previous record high of 17.87 percent months ago. The average annual percentage rate (APR) currently stands at 20.66 percent, with some companies charging rates as high as 28 percent.

This is one of the problems confronting the Federal Reserve. Even though inflation remains sticky, the central bank needs to ease interest rates before they bury debt-saddled American consumers.

Consumers are already laboring under the strain of rising debt. According to the New York Fed, delinquencies increased in every debt category during the fourth quarter of 2023, with about 8.5 percent of credit card balances in delinquency.

“Credit card and auto loan transitions into delinquency are still rising above pre-pandemic levels,” said Wilbert van der Klaauw, economic research advisor at the New York Fed. “This signals increased financial stress, especially among younger and lower-income households.”

Consumer debt is also putting strain on banks. The net charge-off rate on credit card loans came in at 4.15 percent as of the end of 2023. It was the highest rate for this portfolio reported by the banking industry since the first quarter of 2012.

All of this underscores the fundamental problem of running an economy on credit. It’s expensive and credit cards have an inconvenient thing called a limit.

And it appears American consumers may be bumping up against that limit. This could account for the unexpected slowdown in GDP growth in the first quarter.

The growth in non-revolving debt also reveals problems in America’s borrow-and-spend paradise. 

Non-revolving debt, primarily reflecting outstanding auto loans, student loans, and loans for other big-ticket durable goods, increased by 2 percent. This continues a trend of sagging spending on big-ticket items that we’ve seen in recent months. Before the pandemic, revolving credit growth averaged 5 percent. 

Joe Biden, Jerome Powell, and the talking heads can brag all they want about the “strong economy,” but Americans have been borrowing to buy it. They may have reached their limit and that’s bad news for an economy that lives on debt.

Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for MoneyMetals.com with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.

Graham Blasts Pro-Hamas Protesters as ‘Dumba**es’ and ‘Terrorist Sympathizers’

Contributing Author
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Graham Blasts Pro-Hamas Protesters as ‘Dumba**es’ and ‘Terrorist Sympathizers’

(Headline USA) Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., blasted the anti-Israel student protesters at colleges across the country, calling them “dumba**es” and “terrorist sympathizers.”

Graham made the comment during an interview with Fox News’s Jesse Watters on Tuesday.

“If you say, ‘We are Hamas,’ and you mean it, then you are a religious Nazi. If you say, ‘We are Hamas,’ and you don’t know what Hamas is all about, you are a dumba**,” he explained. “So there’s dumba**es and there’s terrorist sympathizers.”

The senator went on to argue that the best way to “fix” the problems in higher education was for the GOP to win in November’s election.

“Here’s what I can promise you, if Donald Trump were president of the United States, his attorney general would be all over this,” Graham said. “These college presidents would be under the gun to stop this crap.”

But in the meantime, he also called on the Biden administration to hold universities accountable for failing to protect Jewish students on campus and to investigate whether outside organizations funded and organized the student encampments.

“I think the Department of Justice needs to investigate where the money is coming from,” Graham said.

Several Republicans have pointed out that leftist billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundation has long bankrolled some of the student groups involved in the student encampments, such as Students for Justice Palestine.

“I think [FBI officials] need to look at the root causes and find out if some of this was funded by, I don’t know, George Soros or overseas entities,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said this week.

In response, a spokesperson for the Open Society Foundation said the group “has funded a broad spectrum of U.S. groups that have advocated for the rights of Palestinians and Israelis and for peaceful resolution to the conflict in Israel.”

Unhinged Tlaib Calls for the Arrest of Netanyahu

Contributing Author
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Unhinged Tlaib Calls for the Arrest of Netanyahu

(Headline USA) “Squad” Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., on Tuesday called for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged violations of international law, The Hill reported.

Tlaib, who was censured by her colleagues in the House late last year for anti-Semitic rhetoric, accused Netanyahu and other Israeli officials of violating the Genocide Convention after Israeli forces invaded the Palestinian city of Rafah.

Israeli officials hope the siege will be their final military campaign in the monthslong effort to root out Hamas terrorist leaders and recover any surviving hostages from the deadly Oct. 7 ambush that broke a two-year ceasefire agreement.

Tlaib—who has repeatedly refused to condemn egregious Hamas atrocities, including rape and the decapitation of infants—accused Israel of killing more than 35,000 Palestinians and exposing them to “unimaginable” suffering.

“I urge the ICC [International Criminal Court] to swiftly issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials to finally hold them accountable for this genocide, as is obviously warranted by these well-documented violations of the Genocide Convention under international law,” she said in a statement.

Tlaib also blasted the U.S. for its continued support of Israel, accusing the Biden administration of giving “their consent for these atrocities” and “actively participating in genocide.”

President Joe Biden must immediately cut off all funding to Israel, Tlaib continued.

“It’s no coincidence that immediately after our government sent the Israeli apartheid regime over $14 billion with absolutely no conditions on upholding human rights, Netanyahu began a ground invasion of Rafah to continue the genocide of Palestinians—with ammunition and bombs paid for by our tax dollars,” she claimed.

Shockingly, after having dangled the Israeli aid as an incentive to induce Republicans to vote on a $95 billion package conveying more than $60 billion in funding to Ukraine, the Biden administration announced it was pausing its Israeli aid on Tuesday.

Former President Donald Trump was impeached under similar circumstances for threatening to pause aid to Ukraine that had already been approved by Congress.

Biden has faced a difficult balancing act trying to placate the pro-Hamas faction of the Left, which could inflict severe political damage in swing states like Michigan if they chose to boycott the 2024 election, while ultimately remaining beholden to the broader Democratic base that supports sending aid to America’s longtime geopolitical ally in Israel.

Several Republicans have already warned the ICC that any action against Netanyahu and other Israel officials would result in severe sanctions by the U.S.

“If you issue a warrant for the arrest of the Israeli leadership, we will interpret this not only as a threat to Israel’s sovereignty but to the sovereignty of the United States,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., joined by 11 other Republican senators, wrote in a letter to the ICC. “The United States will not tolerate politicized attacks by the ICC on our allies. Target Israel and we will target you.”

House Republicans Threw a ‘FISA Fest’ Party after Renewing Domestic Spying Tool

Ken Silva
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House Republicans Threw a ‘FISA Fest’ Party after Renewing Domestic Spying Tool

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The lawmakers responsible for allowing the FBI to continue its warrantless spying on Americans threw an actual party to celebrate that fact, according to a report in Wired.

The tech publication reported Wednesday that the House Intelligence Committee had a party scheduled for that night, to celebrate last month’s renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows for the warrantless collection of Americans’ communications.

“The US House Intelligence Committee is throwing a party Wednesday night to celebrate the recent extension of the 702 surveillance program, multiple sources tell WIRED,” the publication reported.

“House Intelligence Committee chair Mike Turner and ranking member Jim Himes blasted out invitations announcing a ‘bipartisan celebration’ of the 702 program’s continuation last week. The event, which the lawmakers have dubbed FISA Fest, is being held in a reception room in the US Capitol building Wednesday night.”

House Intel communications director Jeff Naft, who is also the spokesman for chairman Turner, has not responded to a request for comment as of the publication of this article.

As Headline USA has reported, Speaker Mike Johnson and the House Intel Committee were key in killing legislation that would have required the FBI and other agencies to obtain a warrant before using Section 702 on Americans.

The House had until April 19 to renew Section 702, and there were two competing bills: one from the Intel Committee and one from the Judiciary Committee, the latter which would have imposed warrant requirements.

After pulling the Judiciary’s bill, Johnson helped jam the Intel bill through the House without warrant requirements.

Civil libertarians tried to put a provision to requirement in the legislation at the last minute, but Johnson helped defeat that proposed amendment, too. The April 12 vote was 212 to 212, with Johnson serving as the tiebreaker to defeat the warrant requirements. Johnson was long one of the most vocal proponents for requiring U.S. intelligence agencies to obtain warrants, but he recently changed his position after receiving a “confidential briefing” from U.S. national security officials.

Now that FISA’s 702 is again law for at least another two years, the FBI’s deputy director is urging his agents to use it liberally.

 “To continue to demonstrate why tools like this are essential to our mission, we need to use them, while also holding ourselves accountable for doing so properly and in compliance with legal requirements,” FBI deputy director Paul Abbate said in an April 20 email obtained by Wired.

“I urge everyone to continue to look for ways to appropriately use US person queries to advance the mission, with the added confidence that this new pre-approval requirement will help ensure that those queries are fully compliant with the law.”

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

Fani Willis Claims She Does Not Have to Testify in ‘Unlawful’ State Senate Investigation

Contributing Author
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Fani Willis Claims She Does Not Have to Testify in ‘Unlawful’ State Senate Investigation

(Headline USA) Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said this week that she would not cooperate with the state Senate’s investigation into her prosecution of former President Donald Trump, calling the legislative body’s investigation “unlawful.”

Georgia Republicans in the state Senate requested Willis’s appearance to testify over whether she misused taxpayer funds in her indictment of Trump and others on racketeering charges.

State Sen. Bill Cowsert, the chairman of the investigative committee, warned Willis this week that if she did not voluntarily testify, he would subpoena her.

“If she’s not willing to come and explain her conduct, then we will subpoena her and ask her to come, require her to come,” he said.

Willis, however, suggested she would ignore the subpoena as well.

“Well, first of all, I don’t even think they have the authority to subpoena me, but they need to learn the law,” Willis said, according to local outlet Fox 5.

When asked to give a “yes or no” on whether she would appear before the committee, Willis replied, “I will not appear on anything that is unlawful.”

Willis also denied the allegations of misconduct against her, saying, “I have not broken the law in any way.”

Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones warned Willis in a statement of his own that she cannot legally defy a legislative subpoena, confirming that it was, in fact, Willis, who was conveying her ignorance of and/or disregard for the law.

“If subpoenaed by the Committee, she will be required to appear or she will be in violation of Georgia law,” Jones tweeted. “This is what treating everybody evenly looks like, even if DA Willis doesn’t like being held accountable.”

Willis has repeatedly been rebuked since she was elected in 2020 after campaigning with support from billionaire George Soros on a “Get Trump” platform, promising to prosecute the then-president.

She ultimately used a phone call that transpired a day after she assumed office as the basis for doing so, although investigations have since validated former President Donald Trump’s request that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger investigate allegations of widespread vote fraud in Fulton County and elsewhere.

A recent hearing by the state board of elections appeared to confirm that the county double-scanned more than 300,000 ballots to give Democrat Joe Biden the victory in the state.

Willis, meanwhile, has engaged in overtly unethical and partisan practices, calling her judgement and professionalism into question throughout the investigation and trial.

Trump’s legal team scored another win against Willis this week when the Georgia Court of Appeals agreed to hear a case over whether Willis should be allowed to stay on the criminal case she brought against him.

Lawyers for Trump and some of his co-defendants in the case have argued that Willis should be disqualified from the case because of her inappropriate romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she appointed to oversee it.

The appeals court’s decision likely means the case will not go to trial until after the November election.

Ex-CNN Hack ‘Haunted’ by Dinner w/ ‘Closeted’ Pro-Trump ‘MAGAts’

Jacob Bruns
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Ex-CNN Hack ‘Haunted’ by Dinner w/ ‘Closeted’ Pro-Trump ‘MAGAts’

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) A former CNN reporter revealed recently that she had been “haunted” for several weeks by a dinner she unwittingly shared with supporters of former President Donald Trump, the Daily Mail reported.

Michelle Kosinski, former CNN White House correspondent, fired off a lengthy Twitter thread on Sunday describing the anxiety that she has faced since encountering covert Trump supporters at a dinner party.

“As it went on, my friends and I realized we were surrounded by otherwise carefully closeted MAGAts,” she tweeted.

Throughout the thread, she castigated her former friends for their “wrong beliefs” and accused them of living in “information silos” that impeded their collective ability to see the “facts.”

Though her colleagues “seemed great” at first, their greatness was only “on the surface,” since they later revealed themselves to be Trump sympathizers.

According to Kosinski, the gathering was particularly disturbing because “all were well-educated and successful in careers,” a sentiment she repeated several times throughout the thread as some of the dinner colleagues even attended Ivy League universities.

Later on she insisted that those present were “otherwise smart people” who, though “not scientists,” were nonetheless among America’s elite classes.

The truth of their opinions was revealed—particularly as the guests at the party began to imbibe more, Kosinski wrote.

“[S]lowly, over a few drinks, they began to let slip their true MAGA natures,” she lamented.

Kosinski was also shocked when the some in the group hinted that—perhaps more egregious than supporting Trump—they might also be climate change deniers.

According to her report, they “busted out with air quotes when mentioning climate change.”

Kosinski concluded the thread by suggesting that it was “not healthy” for such “decent minds” to be “corrupted” by the “b*llshit” that is supporting the former president.

After the clip went viral, garnering some 4.5 million views, several prominent conservative voices naturally were among those who weighed in.

Some retweeted a video of Kosinski staging a shot in a canoe to appear as if she was in a flood in Wayne, N.J., while reporting for the Today show as people walked by in what appeared to be a foot of water.

Oh My: Insurrectionist Dem’s Secret YouTube Channel Exposed

Luis Cornelio
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Oh My: Insurrectionist Dem’s Secret YouTube Channel Exposed

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Embattled Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., faces disturbing allegations that he maintained a personal YouTube account following channels promoting conspiracy theories, notably anti-Semitism. 

Bowman purportedly curated playlists featuring many of these conspiratorial videos, as reported by the Daily Beast. 

Reportedly concealing his identity under the YouTube pseudonym “Inner Peace,” Bowman shared videos from the Bronx middle school he founded and led as principal before assuming office in Congress.

Among the accounts Bowman followed is BreakThrough News, notorious for disseminating Russian and Chinese propaganda. The channel uploaded a video titled, “The American Takeover: How 2 Years of War Made Ukraine a US Colony.” 

Another account Bowman followed, named Video Advice, features a video titled “This CIA Document Literally Explains Time Travel (practical steps included).” Additionally, the page boasted a video titled, “Kanye Exposes the Truth: ‘The Secret Codes They Don’t Want You to Know.’” 

Responding to the allegations, Bowman claimed unfamiliarity with the videos highlighted by the Daily Beast. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I don’t know these accounts, and I haven’t watched any of these videos,” the New York Democrat told the outlet. 

“There is a war going on that has killed tens of thousands of innocents and people here can’t afford rent and groceries, I think people care more about that than some convoluted story about videos that I haven’t even watched,” he added. 

Bowman also purportedly followed a page called Afripost, featuring speeches by controversial figure Louis Farrakhan, known for his anti-Semitic rhetoric. 

These allegations surface amid a series of controversies surrounding Bowman. 

Bowman pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor after being caught pulling a fire alarm, which many have described as an attempt to disrupt a government funding resolution. 

He has also faced criticism for his anti-Israel remarks, particularly as Israel leads a military rescue mission in the Gaza Strip, where several hostages are still held captive by Hamas terrorists. 

Proposed Bill Threatens to Ship Off Anti-Israel Hecklers to Gaza

Luis Cornelio
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Proposed Bill Threatens to Ship Off Anti-Israel Hecklers to Gaza

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Three Republican lawmakers are proposing a measure to address the disruptive behavior of pro-Palestinian students at college campuses protesting against Israel: shipping them off to Gaza for six months.

Reps. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., Randy Weber, R-Texas, and Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., introduced legislation on Wednesday that would mandate the relocation of any individual charged and convicted of crimes related to campus disturbances to the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip.

The bill, initially reported by Fox News, comes amid instances where several students refuse to dismantle their encampments at numerous universities nationwide, protesting Israel’s military efforts to secure hostages held by Hamas terrorists.

Though the legislation does not specify Israel or any particular group, it stipulates that the criminal conduct must have occurred after Oct. 7, 2023—the date of Hamas’s incursion into southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,200 individuals, including U.S. citizens. 

“Students have abandoned their classes to harass other students and disrupt campus-wide activities, including university commencement ceremonies nationwide. Enough is enough,” Ogles told Fox News. 

“That’s why I introduced legislation to send any person convicted of unlawful activity on the campus of an American university since October 7th, 2023, to Gaza to complete a minimum of six months of community service,” Ogles added. 

Weber echoed Ogles’s sentiments, stating, “If you support a terrorist organization, and you participate in unlawful activity on campuses, you should get a taste of your own medicine. I am going to bet that these pro-Hamas supporters wouldn’t last a day, but let’s give them the opportunity.” 

The protests on college campuses revolve around the assertion that Israel is perpetrating war crimes in the Gaza Strip, where the Jewish state is combating Hamas. 

Approximately 2,200 individuals have been arrested by police, according to the Associated Press.

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