Judge Vacates Conviction for Notorious Afghanistan Deserter, Blames Trump

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Judge Vacates Conviction for Notorious Afghanistan Deserter, Blames Trump

(Headline USA) A federal judge on Tuesday vacated the military conviction of Bowe Bergdahl, a former U.S. Army soldier who pleaded guilty to desertion after he left his post and was captured in Afghanistan and tortured by the Taliban.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton in Washington says that military judge Jeffrey Nance, who presided over the court-martial, failed to disclose that he had applied to the executive branch for a job as an immigration judge, creating a potential conflict of interest.

Walton noted that former President Donald Trump had strongly criticized Bergdahl during the 2016 presidential campaign. Bergdahl’s lawyers argued without apparent evidence that Trump’s comments placed undue command influence on Nance.

Walton rejected the specific argument surrounding undue command influence, but he said a reasonable person could question the judge’s impartiality under the circumstances.

Bergdahl was charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy after the then-23-year-old from Hailey, Idaho, left his post in Afghanistan in 2009. He said he was trying to get outside his post so he could report what he saw as poor leadership within his unit, but he was abducted by the Taliban and held captive for nearly five years.

During that time, Bergdahl was repeatedly tortured and beaten with copper wires, rubber hoses and rifle butts. After several escape attempts, he was imprisoned in a small cage for four years, according to court documents.

Several U.S. servicemembers were wounded searching for Bergdahl. In 2014, he was returned to the U.S. in a prisoner swap for five Taliban leaders who were being held at Guantanamo Bay.

The swap faced criticism from Trump, then-Sen. John McCain and others. Both Trump and McCain called for Bergdahl to face severe punishment.

In 2017, he pleaded guilty to both charges. Prosecutors at his court-martial sought 14 years in prison, but he was given no time after he submitted evidence of the torture he suffered while in Taliban custody. He was dishonorably discharged and ordered to forfeit $10,000 in pay.

His conviction and sentence had been narrowly upheld by military appeals courts before his lawyers took the case to U.S. District Court, resulting in Tuesday’s ruling.

The Justice Department declined comment on the ruling Tuesday.

Eugene Fidell, one of Bergdahl’s lawyers, said he was gratified by the ruling and said Walton’s 63-page opinion shows how meticulous he was in rendering the ruling.

Calls and emails to the immigration court in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Nance now serves as an immigration judge, were not returned Tuesday evening.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Woke Activists Target Elite ‘Legacy’ Admissions in Retaliation for Affirmative-Action Verdict

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Woke Activists Target Elite ‘Legacy’ Admissions in Retaliation for Affirmative-Action Verdict

(Headline USA) Opening a new front in legal battles over college admissions, the U.S. Department of Education has launched a civil rights investigation into Harvard University’s policies on legacy admissions.

Top colleges’ preferential treatment of children of alumni, who are often white, has faced mounting scrutiny since the Supreme Court last month struck down the use of affirmative action as a tool to boost the presence of students of color.

On Monday, the department notified Lawyers for Civil Rights, a leftist lawfare group based in Boston, that it was investigating the group’s claim that the university “discriminates on the basis of race by using donor and legacy preferences in its undergraduate admissions process.”

An Education Department spokesperson confirmed its Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation at Harvard. The agency declined further comment.

However, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden has “made clear that legacy admissions hold back our ability to build diverse student bodies.”

That belies his own personal use of influence-peddling to benefit his family members and others within the Biden sphere of influence.

Although Hunter Biden’s degrees from Georgetown and Yale univesities are actually considerably more prestigious than his father’s degrees from Syracuse and the University of Delaware, the younger Biden did appear to enjoy legacy admission at his father’s high school alma mater, Archmere Academy.

Joe Biden also used his pull as vice president to write letters of recommendation to Ivy-League schools for the children of Hunter’s Chinese business partners.

But other forms of elite “privilege” notwithstanding, the lawfare attack in question targets only the use of family connections to gain access to educational institutions and not one’s proximity to the president’s troubled son.

The complaint was filed earlier this month on behalf of black and Latino community groups in New England.

The group argued that students with legacy ties are up to seven times more likely to be admitted to Harvard, can make up nearly a third of a class and that about 70% are white. For the Class of 2019, about 28% of the class were legacies with a parent or other relative who went to Harvard.

“We are gratified that the Department of Education has acted swiftly to open this investigation,” the group said in an email statement.

“Harvard should follow the lead of a growing number of colleges and universities—including Amherst, MIT, Johns Hopkins, the University of California, and most recently Wesleyan—and voluntarily abandon these unfair and undeserved preferences.”

A spokesperson for Harvard on Tuesday said the university has been reviewing its admissions policies to ensure compliance with the law since the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action.

“As this work continues, and moving forward, Harvard remains dedicated to opening doors to opportunity and to redoubling our efforts to encourage students from many different backgrounds to apply for admission,” the spokesperson said.

Ending legacy preferences is “one of many steps that Harvard and other universities can take to increase access, diversity, and equity in admissions,” said Jane Sujen Bock, a board member of the Coalition for a Diverse Harvard, which includes alumni, student and staff.

Last week, Wesleyan University in Connecticut announced that it would end its policy of giving preferential treatment in admissions to those whose families have historical ties to the school.

Wesleyan President Michael Roth said a student’s “legacy status” has played a negligible role in admissions, but would now be eliminated entirely.

In recent years, other schools—including Amherst College in Massachusetts, Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University in Maryland—also have eliminated legacy admissions.

Legacy policies have been called into question after last month’s Supreme Court ruling banning affirmative action and any consideration of race in college admissions.

In a pair of cases brought by Asian-American students who were adversely affected by racist affirmative action policies, the court effectively overturned cases reaching back 45 years, forcing institutions of higher education to seek new ways to achieve so-called diversity.

Despite the efforts to achieve a democraphic “diversity” that does not mirror the broader U.S. population, however, schools’ increasingly leftist sentiments have reflected a waning degree of ideological diversity.

This coincides with a recent poll showing that public confidence in universities has hit an all-time low.

NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said he commended the Education Department for taking steps to ensure the higher education system “works for every American, not just a privileged few.”

“Every talented and qualified student deserves an opportunity to attend the college of their choice,” he said. “Affirmative Action existed to support that notion. Legacy admissions exists to undermine it.”

Sarah Hinger, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, said she did not know the specifics of the Harvard program but “as a general matter, legacy admissions tend to benefit disproportionately, white people and wealthy people.”

“Systemic racism and inequality has allowed some people to build legacies across generations of their family in the same way that systemic racism has left many families of color out of opportunities in the educational hierarchy,” she claimed. “In a way they’re two sides of the same coin.”

Leftist rhetoric however, has often conflated racial identity politics with Marxist class struggles in order to dupe blacks and Latinos into helping wealthy elites maintain the status quo by scapegoating their white middle-class counterparts rather than the true perpetrators of systemic inequality.

A study led by Harvard and Brown researchers, published Monday, found that wealthy students were twice as likely to be admitted to elite schools compared to their lower- or middle-income counterparts who have similar standardized test scores.

The study looked at family income and admissions data at Ivy League schools as well as Stanford, MIT, Duke and the University of Chicago. It found that legacy admissions policies were a contributing factor to the advantage high-income students have at these schools.

Athletic recruitment and extracurricular credentials, which are stronger when students attend affluent private high schools, were the other two factors.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Biden Forces Family to Pay for Burial Transport of Marine Killed in Afghan Withdrawal

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Biden Forces Family to Pay for Burial Transport of Marine Killed in Afghan Withdrawal

(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) The Biden administration’s disastrous and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan continues to bring more shame and disgrace on the country’s alleged commander-in-chief.

The family of Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, who was one of 13 American troops killed during the 2021 withdrawal, reportedly was left with a $60,000 bill to have Gee’s body flown from California to Arlington Cemetery to be buried.

Gee’s body was originally flown to California for a family ceremony, but the Biden administration balked at transporting her body to Virginia. The Department of Defense was allowed the option to leave the Gees high and dry under an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which states that the secretary of defense may provide a fallen service member’s next of kin “a commercial air travel use waiver for the transportation of deceased remains of [a] military member who dies inside a theater of combat operations,” according to Fox News.

Absent financial help from the Department of Defense to fund transporting Gee’s remains to Arlington, the non-profit group Honoring Our Fallen, which helps the families of American service members, paid the cost to fly Gee’s remains via private jet for burial at the National Cemetery for fallen military heroes.

“Our service members are killed and we make the families responsible for the transportation costs?! That family lost a beautiful women and is forever changed,” tweeted a USMC veteran using the handle GILBERT. “Absolutely unacceptable. @POTUS you need to fix this. We need to do what’s right for the families of our fallen heroes!”

Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., an Army veteran, learned of the Gees’ harrowing experience during a meeting with families of the “Fallen 13” and was “enraged to learn that the Department of Defense had placed a heavy financial burden,” he told Fox News.”

“Typically, our fallen heroes are flown back home for a solemn service and then laid to a final rest at Arlington Cemetery with the utmost respect and honor,” Mills said. “It is an egregious injustice that grieving families were burdened to shoulder the financial strain of honoring their loved ones. This is an unacceptable situation that demands immediate rectification.”

The USMC Twitter commentator provided one solution.

“Transportation from the war zone, back to America to the family for a private ceremony in their home town,” GILBERT wrote. “Then transportation to a final resting place should be the absolute minimum we need to do for our military members.”

‘Whistleblower’ Claims That Non-Human Pilots Were Recovered from UFO Crash Sites

Ken Silva
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‘Whistleblower’ Claims That Non-Human Pilots Were Recovered from UFO Crash Sites

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Retired Maj. David Grusch testified at Wednesday’s much anticipated congressional hearing into “unidentified aerial phenomena” that the U.S. government has recovered “non-human” bodies from UFO crash sites.

However, Grusch admitted that he has not seen direct evidence of these bodies—leading skeptics to scoff at the purported whistleblower’s claim.

Grusch’s disclosure came in response to questions from Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who asked him whether bodies recovered from UFO crash sites were human or non-human.

“Non-human, and that was the assessment of people with direct knowledge of the program that I talked to, that are currently still on the program,” Grusch responded.

When Mace asked about evidence that documents his claims, Grush said, “The specific documentation, I would have to talk to you in a SCIF,” referring to Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities that members of Congress use to review sensitive or classified information in a secure environment.

Grusch did not clarify whether “non-human” meant that extraterrestrial lifeforms were recovered, or if the UFO “pilots” were simply animals. The Soviet Union famously put a dog named Laika on Sputnik 2, the second craft it launched into space in 1957.

Grusch further said the U.S. likely had been aware of “non-human” activity since the 1930s.

The Pentagon has denied Grusch’s claims of a coverup.

In a statement, Defense Department spokeswoman Sue Gough said investigators had not discovered “any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently.”

The statement did not address UFOs that were not suspected of being extraterrestrial objects.

Grusch says he became a government whistleblower after his discovery and has faced retaliation for coming forward. He declined to be more specific about the retaliatory tactics, citing an ongoing investigation.

“It was very brutal and very unfortunate, some of the tactics they used to hurt me both professionally and personally,” he said.

However, skeptics aren’t buying Grusch’s claims.

Revolver News’s Darren Beattie contrasted the U.S. government’s treatment of Grusch with that of other recent whistleblowers, such as those who have divulged FBI criminality.

“Let’s have some real whistleblowers on how Merrick Garland and Eric Holder covered up what really happened in the Oklahoma City Bombing,” Beattie said in a statement alluding to FBI informant-turned whistleblower John Matthews, who was threatened by the bureau after revealing that agents monitored Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in the leadup to the April 19, 1995, attack.

“THEN we’ll see how the government treats real whistleblowers,” Beattie said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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

WATCH: Mitch McConnell Appears to Suffer Medical Crisis Mid-Press Conference

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WATCH: Mitch McConnell Appears to Suffer Medical Crisis Mid-Press Conference

(Headline USA) Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., briefly left his own press conference on Wednesday after stopping his remarks mid-sentence and staring off into space for several seconds.

McConnell approached the podium for his weekly press conference and began speaking about the annual defense bill on the floor, which he said was proceeding with “good bipartisan cooperation.”

But he then appeared to lose his train of thought, trailing off with a drawn-out “uh.”

He then appeared to freeze up and stared vacantly for around 20 seconds before his colleagues in Republican leadership, who were standing behind him and could not see his face, grabbed his elbows and asked if he wanted to go back to his office.

He did not answer, but slowly walked back to his office with an aide and Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, a former orthopedic surgeon who is the No. 3 Republican in the Senate. McConnell later returned to the press conference and answered questions from the press.

Asked about what happened, McConnell said he was “fine.” He did not elaborate.

A McConnell aide said he felt lightheaded and stepped away for a moment. The aide requested anonymity to speak about the senator’s health.

McConnell, 81, was out of the Senate for almost six weeks earlier this year after falling and hitting his head. His office later said he suffered a concussion and fractured a rib.

His speech has recently sounded more halting, prompting questions among some of his colleagues about his health.

After the press conference, Barrasso told reporters that he “wanted to make sure everything was fine” and walked McConnell down the hall.

Barrasso said he has been concerned since McConnell was injured earlier this year, “and I continue to be concerned.”

But asked about his particular concerns, Barrasso said: “I said I was concerned when he fell and hit his head a number of months ago and was hospitalized. And I think he’s made a remarkable recovery, he’s doing a great job leading our conference and was able to answer every question the press asked him today.”

McConnell is one of several powerful figures who are in or fast approaching their 80s, fueling criticism from some with calls to reform the gerontocracy.

Critics note that having elected leaders and lawmakers who have little personal stake in living with the decisions they make helps to facilitate corruption and lack of accountability, as well as public distrust in their competence.

President Joe Biden in particular has routinely suffered from both falls and verbal gaffes, as well as other embarassing moments, sometimes at inopportune moments for American diplomacy. Most recently, he appeared to nod off during a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

His aides have acknowledged that Biden, who has indicted he fully intends to run for re-election next year, has been granted some recent accommodations, such as taking the short stairs on Air Force One, in order to mitigate the risk of embarassing situations.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

DHS Secretary Creates His Own Definition to Claim Border is Secure

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DHS Secretary Creates His Own Definition to Claim Border is Secure

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told Congress in April 2022 that his department has full operational control over the country’s southern border.

Mayorkas’s statement was demonstrably false. More than 1.5 million illegal immigrants have entered the country since the start of the Biden administration, while the Secure Fence Act of 2006 defines operational control of the border as “the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States.”

But despite the clear language of the statute, Mayorkas doubled down on his claim that DHS has operational control over the southern border Wednesday during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. Mayorkas admitted that he does not follow the legal definition of “operational control,” but instead uses a standard that he created.

Mayorkas’s admission was in response to questions from Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, who asked whether the DHS has “operational control, or a form of presence that they’re aware of what’s going on at the border?”

“As we define that term, congresswoman, we do,” Mayorkas answered.

The DHS secretary’s response only served to inflame angry congressional Republicans, who’ve been mounting an effort to impeach Mayorkas.

Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., called Mayorkas the most dishonest public official he’s dealt with in his seven years as a congressman. Johnson received criticism from Democrats who said he was besmirching the character of a witness, but the GOP representative declined to withdraw his statement.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., had perhaps even harsher words, accusing Mayorkas of “doing the bidding of the cartels” after the secretary couldn’t tell him how many of the 2 million migrants apprehended during the Biden administration have actually been deported.

“You won’t provide us any number. When you sit there and just kind of ostensibly disagree without any facts, it shows people what the real gig is,” Gaetz said.

“The Mexican government is captive to the cartels. They are doing the bidding of the cartels and based on your response today, so are you.”

Rep. Ken Buck, R-Co., meanwhile, told Mayorkas that “my constituents consider you a traitor.”

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., called on Mayorkas to resign. When Mayorkas declined to do so, Van Drew promised that he and the other committee members will ensure that he’s impeached.

“If you will not resign, that leaves us with no other option: You should be impeached,” he said.

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

Senate RINOs Signal Opposition to Biden Impeachment, Despite Evidence

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Senate RINOs Signal Opposition to Biden Impeachment, Despite Evidence

(Headline USA) Senate Republicans shot down the possibility of an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden this week after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., floated it as a next step.

McCarthy said on Monday that House Republicans’ investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings “is rising to the level of impeachment inquiry.” The Republican leader later clarified that an inquiry did not guarantee an actual impeachment resolution, but would give congressional Republicans the tools to get answers on what President Joe Biden knew about his son Hunter Biden’s influence peddling.

“How do you get to the bottom of the truth? The only way Congress can do that is go to an impeachment inquiry,” he said. “As more of this continues to unravel, it rises to the level of an impeachment inquiry.”

However, several Senate Republicans hesitated when asked whether they’d support such an effort.

“It’s not on the radar screen over here,” said Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D. “You’d have to have the argument. It’s a high threshold. I assume they’d have to have the evidence and some process where they, at least, get that evidence.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, expressed a similar sentiment and referred to Democrats’ frequent impeachment efforts against former President Donald Trump.

“It’s getting to be a habit around here, isn’t it? Once you start, it’s unfortunate, but what goes around, comes around,” he continued. “Obviously, the stuff that the House is revealing about the Biden family business is very disturbing, but obviously, the Senate doesn’t have any role.”

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said he “certainly hopes” he doesn’t have to deal with another impeachment trial.

“The bar [for impeachment] is high crimes and misdemeanors, and that hasn’t been alleged at this stage, but we’ll see what develops. I certainly hope that’s not going to confront us again,” he said.

Philly Plans to Host FatCon Event to Embrace ‘Body Positivity,’ Challenge ‘Fatphobia’

Robert Jonathan
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Philly Plans to Host FatCon Event to Embrace ‘Body Positivity,’ Challenge ‘Fatphobia’

(Robert Jonathan, Headline USA) The City of Brotherly Love seems to be embracing “high calorie” lifestyles in a big way. 

In late October, Temple University will host FatCon, which is touted as Philadelphia’s (and perhaps the country’s) “first fat-focused convention curated by fat people, for fat people.”

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With overweight celebrities, influencers and activists pushing “body positivity” as part of a new wave in wokeism, at least one similar event is scheduled for Seattle, another far-left enclave, in January 2024.

The Philly event’s “judgment-free” weekend features panel discussions, fitness-classes (including twerk-lesque) that are meant to be “fat-friendly,” a Halloween costume party and a  marketplace with lots of vendors.

A plus-size clothing swap is also part of the festivities.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the trio who organized the event “want you to know there are a ton of fat people in Philly who are perfectly fine with who they are.”

One of the organizers told the Inquirer that the conference is meant, in part, to assist people in making their way through “this fatphobic world and society in a different way.”

The phrase body positivity “has become bogged down with relating to body image,” explained Adrienne Ray, an event co-organizer and proprietor of the shop Curve Conscious.

“What people in larger bodies need is to step away from constantly talking about body image, because that can be very triggering for folks who have disabilities, chronic illness, have been dieting on and off all their lives and developed eating disorders because of it,” she added.

Those who splurge on a VIP ticket to the event can attend a meet and greet with the convention’s keynote speaker, clinical social worker Sonalee Rashatwar, aka the Fat Sex Therapist, whose stated pronouns are they/he, according to an Instagram post.

 

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According to the speaker’s website, “they are a superfat, queer bisexual non-binary therapist” who co-owns a local therapy center that provides treatment for several kinds of trauma as well as “offering fast positive sexual healthcare.”

Rashatwar has led at least 14 recent workshops including one titled “Understanding the White Supremacist Origins of Fatphobia.”

The Washington Examiner’s Christopher Tremoglie, a Philly resident who said he personally struggled with weight issues, wrote that the “con” part of the gathering came from its whitewashing of the serious health and social implications surrounding obesity.

“Instead, a conference should educate overweight people on proper dieting and exercise plans to get healthy,” Tremoglie wrote. “FatCon is only enabling people to future pain, illnesses, loneliness, and, quite possibly, an early grave.”

However, Ray said that fat people had plenty of time to hate themselves and the conference hoped simply to offer a momentary reprieve.

“People just want to be able to be themselves—that’s the dire need for something like Philly FatCon,” she said. “Some people are not in love with their body every day, but this is the body that they exist in.”

FatCon hoped to give plump Philadelphia-area residents (and presumably those from anywhere else who are living large) the opportunity to have a good time and “connect with other people that look like you, think like you, feel like you, and that understand you,” she added.

Hunter’s Lawyers Face Sanctions over Fake Phone Call to Purge Damning Testimony

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Hunter’s Lawyers Face Sanctions over Fake Phone Call to Purge Damning Testimony

(Headline USA) Hunter Biden’s legal team may face sanctions after the judge presiding over the case against the embattled First Son accused one of his lawyers of lying to the court in order to toss evidence from IRS whistleblowers.

Delaware Judge Maryelle Noreika accused Biden’s counsel of avoiding proper court procedure on Tuesday and demanded an immediate explanation. Specifically, Noreika said one of Hunter’s lawyers misrepresented who he was when speaking with a court clerk in an effort to get the clerk to remove amicus materials from the docket.

“The Court has discussed the matter with the relevant individuals in the Clerk’s Office and has been informed that the caller, Ms. Jessica Bengels, represented that she worked with Mr. Kittila and requested the amicus materials be taken down because they contained sensitive grand jury, taxpayer and social security information,” the judge wrote in an order. 

“It appears that the caller misrepresented her identity and who she worked for in an attempt to improperly convince the clerk’s office to remove the amicus materials from the docket,” she added.

In response, Hunter’s lawyer Matthew Salerno filed a response claiming the incident was the result of “an unfortunate and unintentional miscommunication.”

An additional filing from Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, revealed that Bengels allegedly pretended to be connected to his office when she asked the court clerk to toss IRS whistleblower files that his committee had provided the court.

Further mayhem occurred on Wednesday when the sweetheart plea deal brokered by Hunter’s legal team and the Justice Department fell apart in court. Hunter’s lawyers were eventually able to piece together the deal again, but Hunter changed his intended “guilty” plea to “not guilty.”

The plea change came after Noreika signaled that she disapproved of the plea deal, saying she would not be a “rubber stamp” for it.

“Without me saying I’ll agree to the plea agreement, how do you plead?” Noreika asked Hunter Biden.

“Not guilty, your honor,” he responded.

Soroses Maxxed Out Donations to Jew-Hating Rep. Jayapal

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Soroses Maxxed Out Donations to Jew-Hating Rep. Jayapal

(Headline USA) Leftist billionaire George Soros and his son Alex Soros maxed out their political contributions to Rep. Pramila Japayal, D-Wash., just two weeks before she slammed Israel as a “racist state.”

Both Soroses sent Jayapal’s campaign $6,600 in late June, according to the Washington Free Beacon — the maximum amount an individual can give to a candidate in an election cycle.

Two weeks later, Jayapal told pro-Palestinian activists during a July 15 panel discussion that she is “fighting to make it clear that Israel is a racist state,” leading dozens of her own Democrat colleagues to condemn her comments as “dangerous and antisemitic.”

The Soroses, who are Jewish, are similarly anti-Israel. In 2003, for example, George Soros compared Israel’s behavior to that of Nazi Germany, claiming the “victims” had become “victimizers.”

Yet the Left frequently uses Soros’s Jewish heritage as a defense of him, claiming that any criticism of his politics is “antisemitic.”

A number of conservative Jews have begun pushing back on this narrative.  A new avowed grassroots coalition, Jews Against Soros, was founded by two lawyers, Newsweek senior editor Josh Hammer and former federal prosecutor Will Scharf, who is running for attorney general in Missouri, this year.

“We are Jews who have had enough of George Soros and his malign, leftist influence on American politics,” their website says.

For her part, Jayapal faced a rebuke from her own party this week when the Senate passed a resolution declaring that Israel is not a “racist or apartheid state.”

Jayapal also offered a back-handed apology.

“I do not believe the idea of Israel as a nation is racist,” Jayapal said in a statement. “I do, however, believe that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing government has engaged in discriminatory and outright racist policies and that there are extreme racists driving that policy within the leadership of the current government.”

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