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  7. <description>An Internet hub with domestic and international news, analysis, original reporting, and popular features from the left, center, indies, centrists, moderates, and right</description>
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  21. <title>A night for women, people of color and Muslim Americans</title>
  22. <link>https://themoderatevoice.com/a-night-for-women-people-of-color-and-muslim-americans/</link>
  23. <comments>https://themoderatevoice.com/a-night-for-women-people-of-color-and-muslim-americans/#respond</comments>
  25. <dc:creator><![CDATA[KATHY GILL, Associate Editor]]></dc:creator>
  26. <pubDate>Wed, 05 Nov 2025 23:40:40 +0000</pubDate>
  27. <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
  28. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  29. <category><![CDATA[Society]]></category>
  30. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://themoderatevoice.com/?p=288040</guid>
  31.  
  32. <description><![CDATA[<p>Tuesday, November 4, 2025 was many things. But it was especially a night for women, people of color and Muslim Americans. GA, Alicia Johnson is the first Black woman to win a statewide office, after being overwhelmingly elected to the Public Service Commission MI, Detroit, Mary Sheffield is the city&#8217;s first woman Mayor NJ, Mikie<a class="read-more" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/a-night-for-women-people-of-color-and-muslim-americans/"> [&#8230;]</a></p>
  33. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/a-night-for-women-people-of-color-and-muslim-americans/">A night for women, people of color and Muslim Americans</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  34. ]]></description>
  35. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://themoderatevoice.com/a-night-for-women-people-of-color-and-muslim-americans/many-happy-business-people-raise-hands-together/" rel="attachment wp-att-288042"><img loading="lazy" src="https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/AdobeStock_441544075.jpeg" alt="high five hands" width="2479" height="1653" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-288042" srcset="https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/AdobeStock_441544075.jpeg 2479w, https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/AdobeStock_441544075-300x200.jpeg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 2479px) 100vw, 2479px" /></a><br />
  36. Tuesday, November 4, 2025 was many things. But it <a href="https://www.memeorandum.com/251105/p13#a251105p13" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">was especially a night</a> for women, people of color and Muslim Americans.</p>
  37. <ul>
  38. <li>GA, <a href="https://georgiarecorder.com/2025/11/04/democrat-alicia-johnson-appears-to-defeat-longtime-georgia-utility-regulator/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Alicia Johnson</a> is the first Black woman to win a statewide office, after being overwhelmingly elected to the Public Service Commission </li>
  39. <li>MI, Detroit, <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2025/11/04/detroit-mayor-election-2025-results-winner-mary-sheffield/86984513007/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mary Sheffield</a> is the city&#8217;s first woman Mayor </li>
  40. <li>NJ, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/new-jersey-voters-democrat-mikie-sherrill/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mikie Sherrill</a> is the state&#8217;s second woman Governor (the first Democratic one) </li>
  41. <li>NYC, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/05/politics/mamdani-transition-team-nyc" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Zohran Mamdani</a> is the youngest and first Muslim NYC Mayor </li>
  42. <li>VA, <a href="https://www.wtkr.com/news/politics/governor-youngkin-congratulates-governor-elect-spanberger-discusses-transition-plans" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Abigail Spanberge</a> is the state&#8217;s first woman Governor </li>
  43. <li>VA, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/04/politics/ghazala-hashmi-virginia-lt-governor" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ghazala Hashmi</a> is the state&#8217;s first woman and Muslim Lt Governor and first Muslim woman elected to state office anywhere in the US</li>
  44. </ul>
  45. <p>There were other milestones.</p>
  46. <p>In California, Prop 50, which amended the Constitution so that the state can counter Texas gerrymandering, passed overwhelmingly.</p>
  47. <p><a href="https://www.mississippifreepress.org/mississippi-democrats-break-republican-senate-supermajority-flipping-3-legislative-seats/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">In Mississippi</a>, Democrats flipped three Senate seats, breaking the Republican super-majority. (A step in the right direction.)</p>
  48. <p>In Pennsylvania, all three Democratic members of the State Supreme Court retained their jobs.</p>
  49. <p>And <a href="https://www.headsupnews.org/p/the-resistance-is-ascendant?r=1ju529&#038;utm_campaign=post&#038;utm_medium=web" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">half of America approves of the No Kings Day</a> celebration/protest.</p>
  50. <p>All worth acknowledging and celebrating today.</p>
  51. <p>~~~ ELSEWHERE ~~~</p>
  52. <ul>
  53. <li> <a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/202712/democrats-flip-red-districts-election-warning-trump" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Democrats Flip Reddest Districts Nationwide—in Major Warning to Trump</a>, The New Republic </li>
  54. <li> <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/terrible-news-red-america-2025-elections-21141006.php" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">I have terrible, terrible news for red America</a>, SFGate </li>
  55. <li> <a href="https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-4-2025-tuesday" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nov. 4, 2025</a>, Letters from an American </li>
  56. </ul>
  57. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/a-night-for-women-people-of-color-and-muslim-americans/">A night for women, people of color and Muslim Americans</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  58. ]]></content:encoded>
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  61. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  64. </item>
  65. <item>
  66. <title>Trump and America’s Brain Drain</title>
  67. <link>https://themoderatevoice.com/trump-and-americas-brain-drain/</link>
  68. <comments>https://themoderatevoice.com/trump-and-americas-brain-drain/#respond</comments>
  70. <dc:creator><![CDATA[ROBERT A. LEVINE, TMV Columnist]]></dc:creator>
  71. <pubDate>Wed, 05 Nov 2025 16:16:53 +0000</pubDate>
  72. <category><![CDATA[At TMV]]></category>
  73. <category><![CDATA[brain drain]]></category>
  74. <category><![CDATA[CChina]]></category>
  75. <category><![CDATA[EU]]></category>
  76. <category><![CDATA[Scientific progress]]></category>
  77. <category><![CDATA[trump]]></category>
  78. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://themoderatevoice.com/?p=288038</guid>
  79.  
  80. <description><![CDATA[<p>It’s been evident since Trump stepped into politics that he knew little about science and hated scientists. Maybe that’s because he makes up his own facts and rejects scientific data if it doesn’t fit into his worldview. As an example, he’s called global warming a hoax, pulled the U.S. out of the Paris accords, and<a class="read-more" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/trump-and-americas-brain-drain/"> [&#8230;]</a></p>
  81. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/trump-and-americas-brain-drain/">Trump and America&#8217;s Brain Drain</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  82. ]]></description>
  83. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" src="https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/cccccccdc-300x214.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="214" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-287440" srcset="https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/cccccccdc-300x214.jpg 300w, https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/cccccccdc.jpg 706w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />It’s been evident since Trump stepped into politics that he knew little about science and hated scientists. Maybe that’s because he makes up his own facts and rejects scientific data if it doesn’t fit into his worldview. As an example, he’s called global warming a hoax, pulled the U.S. out of the Paris accords, and doesn’t care about any increase in greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, he’s pushing the use of coal, the dirtiest fuel possible in addition to other fossil fuels. He also doesn’t care about pollution and has cut personnel and funding for the Environmental Protection Agency that enforces pollution laws. </p>
  84. <p>Trump has drastically cut funding for research at universities and federal agencies and fired large numbers of scientists working on various projects. Trump also hired Robert Kennedy Jr as head of Health and Human Services, putting a vaccine denier and anti-science individual in charge of all medical research and agencies like the CDC and NIH. Trump also backs RFK Jr in all of his actions that will hurt American health care.</p>
  85. <p>For some reason, Trump has gone out of his way to make certain that America is no longer a leader in scientific research and innovation. His actions reducing funding at federal scientific agencies and firing thousands of American scientists makes no sense. He has also decreased federal funds for research at many of our leading universities causing them to stop their research and let go of many prominent scientists. It is almost as if Trump is doing the bidding of China to help them get ahead of us in every scientific field. But it’s also helping every advanced nation that are our economic competitors improve their research and innovation.</p>
  86. <p>According to Semafor, the European Union has received a record number of academic grant applications since Trump attained the presidency along with his attacks on higher education. Supposedly, this is due to the universities support of “woke” activities on their campuses. But there is no such things as “woke” science and the scientists who were let go have moved their research to China, E.U. nations and other countries. In fact, other countries have allocated special funds to try and recruit the scientists who have been let go from their jobs because of Trump’s disregard of America’s scientific needs. That includes China. The U.S. brain drain, which is really the Trump brain drain risks the nation falling behind in all scientific fields. Aside from those scientists already fired, according to a poll by Nature, 75 percent of researchers are considering leaving the country because of Trump’s actions. And aside from the brain drain of our scientists, Trump wants to charge 100,000 dollars to foreign scientists for H1-B visas to work in the U.S.  So he is essentially shutting foreign scientists, doctors and nurses out of our country, forcing them to take jobs elsewhere.</p>
  87. <p>And the government shutdown is hurting American science even more. The remaining government scientists are not being paid, and new grant applications are suspended. Necessary economic and scientific data is not being collected. But Trump doesn’t seem to care. He wants to control American science and scientists. I wonder how much Bitcoin China has given Trump and his family to destroy America’s scientific establishment and allow China to employ American researchers? China first, or America first?<br />
  88. www.robertlevinebooks.com<br />
  89. Buy The Uninformed Voter on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your local bookstore.</p>
  90. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/trump-and-americas-brain-drain/">Trump and America&#8217;s Brain Drain</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  91. ]]></content:encoded>
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  94. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  97. </item>
  98. <item>
  99. <title>Trump says he will defy court order on SNAP benefits, not pay during shutdown</title>
  100. <link>https://themoderatevoice.com/trump-says-he-will-defy-court-order-on-snap-benefits/</link>
  101. <comments>https://themoderatevoice.com/trump-says-he-will-defy-court-order-on-snap-benefits/#respond</comments>
  103. <dc:creator><![CDATA[KATHY GILL, Associate Editor]]></dc:creator>
  104. <pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2025 20:18:54 +0000</pubDate>
  105. <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
  106. <category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
  107. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  108. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://themoderatevoice.com/?p=288028</guid>
  109.  
  110. <description><![CDATA[<p>Continuing his governing by social media on a private network he owns, President Donald Trump said &#8220;SNAP BENEFITS&#8230;will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government.&#8221; Last week, he told a judge he was waiting on their direction. Two federal judges ruled that the Administration &#8220;must pay for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance<a class="read-more" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/trump-says-he-will-defy-court-order-on-snap-benefits/"> [&#8230;]</a></p>
  111. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/trump-says-he-will-defy-court-order-on-snap-benefits/">Trump says he will defy court order on SNAP benefits, not pay during shutdown</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  112. ]]></description>
  113. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Continuing his governing by social media on a private network he owns, President Donald Trump said &#8220;<a href="https://www.memeorandum.com/251104/p62#a251104p62" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">SNAP BENEFITS&#8230;will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government</a>.&#8221; Last week, he told a judge he was waiting on their direction.</p>
  114. <p><a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115492285081397189"><img loading="lazy" src="https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/trump-snap-no@2x.png" alt="trump to deny SNAP" width="1280" height="690" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-288029" srcset="https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/trump-snap-no@2x.png 1280w, https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/trump-snap-no@2x-300x162.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></a></p>
  115. <p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr433x9zqq4o" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Two federal judges rule</a>d that the Administration &#8220;must pay for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) benefits, also known as food stamps, using emergency funds.&#8221;</p>
  116. <p>In response, Trump posted this on Truth Social:</p>
  117. <blockquote class="bluesky-embed" data-bluesky-uri="at://did:plc:4usmserhjqkvhldgedfjb3jw/app.bsky.feed.post/3m4jmyqgvzc2w" data-bluesky-cid="bafyreid4o6vis3xsycdnvgb5bdu4lnfhkflxa43h3c5cjkbqmstoqyicyi" data-bluesky-embed-color-mode="system">
  118. <p lang="en">Trump blames “government lawyers” and Democrats for the fact that he’s refusing to release emergency funding that’s available for SNAP.</p>
  119. <p>“If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding…”</p>
  120. <p><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4usmserhjqkvhldgedfjb3jw/post/3m4jmyqgvzc2w?ref_src=embed">[image or embed]</a></p>
  121. <p>&mdash; Matt Novak (<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4usmserhjqkvhldgedfjb3jw?ref_src=embed">@paleofuture.bsky.social</a>) <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4usmserhjqkvhldgedfjb3jw/post/3m4jmyqgvzc2w?ref_src=embed">October 31, 2025 at 4:29 PM</a></p></blockquote>
  122. <p><script async src="https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  123. <p>Conversely, Karoline Levitt, press secretary, says &#8220;<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/truthout.org/post/3m4tcyhmw5k2s" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">it&#8217;s gonna take some time</a>&#8221; to release the funds and then lies about the Democrats being responsible for SNAP benefit withholding.</p>
  124. <p><a href="https://apnews.com/live/donald-trump-news-updates-11-4-2025?utm_source=copy&#038;utm_medium=share" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">In a court filing</a>, the <a href="https://themoderatevoice.com/25-states-dc-sue-trump-to-release-snap-funds/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">25 states that sued the Administration</a> last week contend &#8220;the Trump administration is breaking a court order by agreeing to fund only a partial amount of SNAP benefits during the government shutdown.&#8221;</p>
  125. <p><a href="https://apnews.com/live/donald-trump-news-updates-11-4-2025#0000019a-5013-d522-afde-79735fd10000" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT)</a>:</p>
  126. <blockquote><p>“If [Trump] continues to ignore the courts, then we’re in a full blown and five alarm constitutional crisis. So the president doesn’t get to pick and choose which court orders he complies with. If the court has said he has to start paying SNAP benefits, then he has to start paying SNAP benefits.”</p></blockquote>
  127. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/trump-says-he-will-defy-court-order-on-snap-benefits/">Trump says he will defy court order on SNAP benefits, not pay during shutdown</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  128. ]]></content:encoded>
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  131. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  134. </item>
  135. <item>
  136. <title>Heritage Foundation Bigwig Defending Tucker  Carlson Platforming Notorious Anti-Semite Accentuates Republican Divisions</title>
  137. <link>https://themoderatevoice.com/heritage-foundation-bigwig-defending-tucker-carlson-platforming-notorious-anti-semite-accentuates-republican-divisions/</link>
  138. <comments>https://themoderatevoice.com/heritage-foundation-bigwig-defending-tucker-carlson-platforming-notorious-anti-semite-accentuates-republican-divisions/#respond</comments>
  140. <dc:creator><![CDATA[JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief]]></dc:creator>
  141. <pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2025 07:10:29 +0000</pubDate>
  142. <category><![CDATA[Anti-Semitism]]></category>
  143. <category><![CDATA[Bigotry]]></category>
  144. <category><![CDATA[Extremists]]></category>
  145. <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
  146. <category><![CDATA[Jews]]></category>
  147. <category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
  148. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  149. <category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
  150. <category><![CDATA[Antisemitism]]></category>
  151. <category><![CDATA[Groypers]]></category>
  152. <category><![CDATA[Hatred]]></category>
  153. <category><![CDATA[Kevin Roberts]]></category>
  154. <category><![CDATA[MAGA]]></category>
  155. <category><![CDATA[Nick Fuentes]]></category>
  156. <category><![CDATA[Racists]]></category>
  157. <category><![CDATA[Reaganites]]></category>
  158. <category><![CDATA[Republican Party]]></category>
  159. <category><![CDATA[Republicans]]></category>
  160. <category><![CDATA[The Heritage Foundation]]></category>
  161. <category><![CDATA[Tucker Carlson]]></category>
  162. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://themoderatevoice.com/?p=288016</guid>
  163.  
  164. <description><![CDATA[<p>Once upon a time The Heritage Foundation was considered a thoughtful, influential right-wing think tank. It was founded in 1973 and played a key role in during the years of President Ronald Reagan. Its opponents could passionately oppose its ideas and pronouncements and it wasn&#8217;t considered way out there in the political Twilight Zone. That<a class="read-more" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/heritage-foundation-bigwig-defending-tucker-carlson-platforming-notorious-anti-semite-accentuates-republican-divisions/"> [&#8230;]</a></p>
  165. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/heritage-foundation-bigwig-defending-tucker-carlson-platforming-notorious-anti-semite-accentuates-republican-divisions/">Heritage Foundation Bigwig Defending Tucker  Carlson Platforming Notorious Anti-Semite Accentuates Republican Divisions</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  166. ]]></description>
  167. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" src="https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-288017" srcset="https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-1.jpg 1280w, https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-1-300x169.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></p>
  168. <p>Once upon a time<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation"> The Heritage Foundation</a> was considered a thoughtful, influential right-wing think tank. It was founded in 1973 and played a key role in during the years of President Ronald Reagan. Its opponents could passionately oppose its ideas and pronouncements and it wasn&#8217;t considered way out there in the political Twilight Zone. </p>
  169. <p>That day has (for now) passed.</p>
  170. <p>Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts ignited a major firestorm by essentially backing Tucker Carlson&#8217;s interview of Nick Fuentes.  Many have considered<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=carlson+anti+semitic&#038;rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS751US751&#038;oq=carlson+anti+semitic&#038;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRg90gEIMzYyM2owajGoAgiwAgHxBUDcTyVPMll0&#038;sourceid=chrome&#038;ie=UTF-8"> Carlson anti-Semitic </a>for years. Raging anti-Semite Fuente&#8217;s favorite song is likely <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovCf9VRLnDY">Springtime for Hitler</a> and he probably takes the song seriously.</p>
  171. <p>The issue is whether the Republican Party should embrace anti-Semites because they can provide the party with votes. Roberts based his defense on not wanting to be involved in &#8220;cancel culture.&#8221;</p>
  172. <p>Roberts particularly enraged many when he said this in a statement that garnered more than 23 million views on X: “We will always defend our friends against the slander of bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda. That includes Tucker Carlson, who remains, and as I have said before, always will be a close friend of the Heritage Foundation. The venomous coalition attacking him are sowing division. Their attempt to cancel him will fail.”</p>
  173. <p> Which raises the question: aren&#8217;t there some people that <em>deserve</em> to be &#8220;cancelled&#8221; due to their extremism and potential for triggering violence by some of their supporters?</p>
  174. <p> <em>Should</em> everyone be offered a big platform?</p>
  175. <p>The Rupert Murdoch-owned <a href="https://www.memeorandum.com/251103/p137#a251103p137">New York Post gave this blunt summary</a> of reaction at the once distinguished  Heritage Foundation:</p>
  176. <blockquote><p>One of the largest conservative think tanks in Washington, DC, has been roiled by their president’s embrace of Tucker Carlson after the conservative podcaster hosted white nationalist Nick Fuentes on his show, prompting an outcry from senior staff.</p>
  177. <p>Internal chats reviewed by The Post show high-ranking members of the Heritage Foundation told each other privately how “embarrassed” and “disgusted” they were by Kevin Roberts’ “ridiculous” decision to come to Carlson’s defense over the sitdown with Fuentes, 27, who has expressed anti-Semitic views and denied that the Holocaust happened.</p>
  178. <p>“I’m disgusted by this and don’t understand how this premeditated and orchestrated response could come out of one of the biggest think tanks in the world,” one wrote.</p>
  179. <p>Heritage Foundation staff messaged each other privately about how “embarrassed” and “disgusted” they were by their president, Kevin Roberts’ (pictured) decision to embrace Tucker Carlson after he interviewed the white nationalist Nick Fuentes.</p>
  180. <p>Another declared the incident was “the most embarrassed I’ve ever been to be a Heritage employee. It’s not close.</p></blockquote>
  181. <p>Meanwhile, many Republicans have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/us/politics/gop-tucker-carlson-nick-fuentes-antisemitism.html">scrambling to distance themselves: </a></p>
  182. <blockquote><p>Republican lawmakers and influencers continued on Monday to distance themselves from Tucker Carlson after his sympathetic interview with the prominent white supremacist Nick Fuentes, putting on display a widening split on the right about how to address antisemitism within their party.</p>
  183. <p>The fallout included at least one resignation, as a key aide to the head of a prominent right-wing think tank stepped down after backing his boss’s vigorous defense of Mr. Carlson.</p>
  184. <p>Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation think tank, had announced late last week that the aide, Ryan Neuhaus, was simply leaving his chief of staff position for another role. But on Monday, a spokesman for the Heritage Foundation, said Mr. Neuhaus had resigned. The resignation was reported earlier by The Hill.</p>
  185. <p>Ben Shapiro, the conservative podcast host, also condemned Mr. Carlson on Monday as “the most virulent superspreader of vile ideas in America,” criticizing him for failing to push back on Mr. Fuentes during the interview and for allowing him instead to spread his ideas unchallenged on a huge platform.</p>
  186. <p>On Capitol Hill, Republicans were quick to disavow antisemitism and declare unbending support for Israel, even as some refrained from singling out Mr. Carlson by name.</p>
  187. <p>“There’s already the Democratic Party that is anti-Israel, and is OK with antisemitism,” Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, said in an interview. “We’ve got to be very clear we don’t support antisemitism and we do support Israel.”</p>
  188. <p>The uproar over Mr. Carlson’s interview has created a dilemma for many Republicans in Congress. Many have routinely derided “cancel culture” among progressives and accused the left of intolerance. They have also rejected the idea that conservatives should cast out figures within their own ranks who make indefensible statements.</p>
  189. <p>When a cache of leaked antisemitic, misogynistic and other bigoted texts that circulated among a group of Republican operatives recently surfaced, Vice President JD Vance ridiculed the outraged reaction as “pearl clutching.”</p>
  190. <p>But others, including Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, have argued that Republicans must rid their movement of such viewpoints. Mr. Cruz has positioned himself as one of the party’s loudest voices denouncing antisemitism and appeared especially eager for a hand-to-hand fight with Mr. Carlson.</p>
  191. <p>“It’s a handful of voices that are spreading this garbage, and it is giving every one of us a time for choosing,” Mr. Cruz said at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit in Las Vegas on Thursday. “As for me, I choose to stand with you. I choose to stand with Israel, and I choose to stand with America.”
  192. </p></blockquote>
  193. <p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-new-rights-new-antisemites-d702dcbd?gaa_at=eafs&#038;gaa_n=AWEtsqfhpBU7T5cXLW0GIOnBQ7lnENcgPiBZFnEAtrDvQdRajZYHfDBJugyG&#038;gaa_ts=690996fa&#038;gaa_sig=q0oHakD-EXU8m6Pp-JHHcpwxPNsqwOyy1sjzpxaX8j8y2_EdTkRuPYoAkPrezYXTFDzfzriMozi8R59ce_zjkw%3D%3D">The Wall Street Journal:</a></p>
  194. <blockquote><p>Amid criticism on Friday, Mr. Roberts scrambled to list Mr. Fuentes’s odiousness, but his initial contribution was to join in the Jew-baiting. His video framed the issue not as antisemitism, but as Christian freedom of conscience in the face of a hostile attempt to impose loyalty to Israel on Americans.</p>
  195. <p>The danger here goes beyond the podcast cabal and a misguided think-tank leader. Mr. Roberts, always eager to say he knows “what time it is,” apparently thought this was the way to “reach young men,” as his chief of staff and key influence Ryan Neuhaus put it shortly after the Fuentes interview. On Friday Heritage reassigned Mr. Neuhaus to another role.</p>
  196. <p>If conservatives—and Republicans—don’t call out this poison in their own ranks before it corrupts more young minds, the right and America are entering dangerous territory.</p></blockquote>
  197. <p><a href="https://www.jta.org/2025/11/03/united-states/jewish-exodus-underway-from-heritage-foundations-antisemitism-initiative-over-tucker-carlson">The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports</a> that there has been a Jewish exodus from the foundation&#8217;s antisemitism initiative:</p>
  198. <blockquote><p> The Heritage Foundation’s marquee effort to combat antisemitism, a coalition known as Project Esther, is rapidly losing members following the conservative think tank’s public defense of Tucker Carlson after he gave a friendly interview to the white nationalist and antisemitic provocateur Nick Fuentes.</p>
  199. <p>At least seven individuals and organizations affiliated with Heritage’s National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, launched last year under the Project Esther banner, have resigned or threatened to do so, citing Heritage president Kevin Roberts’s decision to stand by Carlson and his description of the television personality’s critics as a “venomous coalition.”</p>
  200. <p>The defections suggest that Project Esther — unveiled on the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack as a conservative “national strategy to counter antisemitism”— could be imploding.</p>
  201. <p>Neither the co-chairs of the initiative nor the Heritage Foundation immediately responded to a request for comment about the resignations.</p>
  202. <p>Conceived as a counterweight to the Biden administration’s 2023 antisemitism strategy, Heritage’s plan focused almost entirely on left-wing and pro-Palestinian activism, portraying what it called a “Hamas Support Network” as the chief driver of antisemitism in America.</p>
  203. <p>From the outset, the project drew skepticism for not including most mainstream Jewish organizations and for downplaying antisemitism on the political right. That tension has now widened into a rupture.</p></blockquote>
  204. <p>And:</p>
  205. <blockquote><p>The first public resignation from the task force came Sunday with an announcement from Mark Goldfeder, an Orthodox rabbi and the CEO of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, that he was quitting in protest of Roberts’ defense of Carlson.</p>
  206. <p>“Elevating him and then attacking those who object as somehow un-American or disloyal in a video replete with antisemitic tropes and dog whistles, no less, is not the protection of free speech. It is a moral collapse disguised as courage,” Goldfeder wrote in a letter posted to X.</p>
  207. <p>On Monday, the New York Post reported on the resignation of David Bernstein, author of “Woke Antisemitism” and founder of the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values, who had served on the Heritage task force. Bernstein said Roberts’ language felt like “a real attack against Jewish political agency on the American scene.”</p>
  208. <p>“The phrase ‘venomous coalition aligned against him [Carlson]’—that’s me and any Jewish person who cares about condemning antisemitism,” Bernstein said. “It allows you to justify almost anything said in the name of political conservatism, and that empties it of all meaning.”</p></blockquote>
  209. <p>The controversy now involves three Republican factions: (1) Reagan-style conservatives, (2) MAGA Republicans and (3)Groypers, which <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groypers">Wikipedia defines</a> as &#8221; a group of Christian nationalists and white nationalists loosely defined as followers, fans, or associates of Nick Fuentes.&#8221;</p>
  210. <p><a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/p/groyper-war-consumes-heritage-foundation-tucker-carlson-nick-fuentes-ben-shapiro-kevin-roberts">The Bulwark, in an article titled &#8220;Heritage Americans Turn on One Another,&#8221; </a> notes that  popular conservative commentator Ben Shapiro decimated Carlson and Fuentes on his show:</p>
  211. <blockquote><p>Ben Sharpiro did something unique on Monday. Not only did he open his show with a fiery intervention in the right’s roiling feud over white nationalist Nick Fuentes—he devoted his entire show to the topic.</p>
  212. <p>“No to the groypers!” Shapiro said at one point, defiantly.</p>
  213. <p>The conservative commentator’s exhortation was the latest shot to be fired in the civil war that has been roiling the right since last week when Tucker Carlson welcomed the racist, antisemitic, Holocaust-denying Fuentes into the conservative mainstream with a friendly interview. It’s a conflict that has consumed the MAGA movement, unnerved activists, drawn in top lawmakers, and left some conservative institutions in a state of upheaval. Shapiro, taking his turn on Monday, called it “the most important thing happening in the country.”</p>
  214. <p>Shapiro focused most of his fire on Fuentes, playing clips of the young far-right podcaster praising Hitler as “really fucking cool” and promoting rape. And he attacked Carlson, saying he had betrayed Charlie Kirk, the assassinated conservative organizer, by giving Fuentes, Kirk’s archenemy, a platform with virtually no pushback.</p>
  215. <p>“Tucker Carlson has seen fit to launder Nick Fuentes, the person who hated Charlie most and who wished him destruction,” Shapiro said. “That’s not an act of friendship, it’s an act of sick evil.”</p>
  216. <p>But Shapiro had a third target that would have seemed baffling just a week ago: the Heritage Foundation, the monolithic conservative think tank that serves as one of the main pillars of the Republican establishment.</p>
  217. <p>In his broadcast, Shapiro suggested Heritage president Kevin D. Roberts had made a serious error in his handling of the Carlson-Fuentes fallout and was failing to lead the American right.</p>
  218. <p>“I hope Kevin Roberts and Heritage show us they can still be those leaders,” Shapiro said. “But if not, we’ll have to look elsewhere.”</p></blockquote>
  219. <p>So does this suggest Fuentes and his followers are now weaker after this controversy? Not so fast, <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/tucker-carlson-nick-fuentes-interview-heritage-foundation-outrage-rcna241251">writes Michael Edison Hayden, a writer and expert on far-right extremism in the U.S.:</a></p>
  220. <blockquote><p>Nick Fuentes has said that “Hitler is awesome.” He has said that Jews “have no future in America.” He’s a fascist and his worldview isn’t particularly difficult to understand.</p>
  221. <p>For years, the language Fuentes has used about Jews was enough to inspire the leaders of the traditionally philosemitic, pro-Israel conservative movement to keep the 27-year-old livestreamer somewhat walled off from even the mainstream MAGA movement. For example, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) banned Fuentes in recent years, forcing him to create a parallel event called the America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) as an alternative.</p>
  222. <p>But a recent slate of friendly media appearances and articles, culminating in a sit-down interview with Tucker Carlson, posted to the former Fox News host’s website on Oct. 27, has shown that the younger, pro-Hitler wing of the MAGA movement that grew up alongside the political ascendancy of Donald Trump will neither grow out of their rhetoric nor fade away. They are, in fact, rapidly defining what MAGA will mean in the years after the nearly octogenarian Trump leaves the stage.</p></blockquote>
  223. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  224. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">I don’t think Kevin gets it. No one asked him to “cancel” anyone, yet this is his opening line? Why is Kevin so confused? Does he really think that anything less than a lifelong endorsement — no matter what — is “cancellation”??<br />It’s creeping me out because it sounds just like… <a href="https://t.co/X2MHx4owv6">https://t.co/X2MHx4owv6</a></p>
  225. <p>&mdash; Suzy Shofar (@suzylebo) <a href="https://twitter.com/suzylebo/status/1985550835581939978?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  226. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  227. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  228. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tucker Carlson 2024: “Israel is entirely independent.”</p>
  229. <p>Tucker Carlson 2025: “Israel is entirely reliant on the U.S.”</p>
  230. <p>Guess those Qatari dollars increased.</p>
  231. <p> <a href="https://t.co/v0wgOXHZ1F">pic.twitter.com/v0wgOXHZ1F</a></p>
  232. <p>&mdash; Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) <a href="https://twitter.com/EYakoby/status/1985499024070250645?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  233. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  234. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  235. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">I canceled an event with the <a href="https://twitter.com/Heritage?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Heritage</a> Foundation that was supposed to take place this week. ??If those who support Tucker Carlson want to see a venomous coalition, they should look themselves in the mirror. </p>
  236. <p>I don’t work with antisemites. <a href="https://t.co/zwzKXmboFy">pic.twitter.com/zwzKXmboFy</a></p>
  237. <p>&mdash; Congressman Randy Fine (@RepFine) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepFine/status/1985424955358458046?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  238. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  239. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  240. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sorry, but this is bullshit. It’s very easy to say, “we don’t like antisemitism”—if you only define it in the most absurdly narrow of ways: a guy screaming “I hate ALL Jews.” </p>
  241. <p>Meanwhile, the guy who spends all his time obsessing about the evil of the Jews, blames them for the… <a href="https://t.co/TZqwpXOMIc">https://t.co/TZqwpXOMIc</a></p>
  242. <p>&mdash; David Reaboi, Late Republic Nonsense (@davereaboi) <a href="https://twitter.com/davereaboi/status/1985545360379367892?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  243. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  244. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  245. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Reminder:</p>
  246. <p>The &quot;Unite the Right&quot; crowd (Kevin Roberts, Matt Walsh, Adrian Vermeule, etc.) are fine ostracizing Reaganites but believe we need to unite with antisemites like Tucker Carlson and the Groypers.</p>
  247. <p>&mdash; The Reagan Caucus (@NewReaganCaucus) <a href="https://twitter.com/NewReaganCaucus/status/1985443845220237609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  248. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  249. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  250. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is so deeply dishonest and disrespectful. You are engaging in the most insincere damage control tactics rather than speaking truth, admitting the full scope of wrongdoing, and clearly disaffiliating from antisemites. No decent person can defend this. You have failed. <a href="https://t.co/L14aesjQwH">https://t.co/L14aesjQwH</a></p>
  251. <p>&mdash; Ben B@dejo (@BenTelAviv) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenTelAviv/status/1985551804483203522?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  252. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  253. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  254. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation isn’t defending “criticism of Israel.” He’s lending legitimacy to a stealth campaign funded by Islamists that weaponizes Christianity against the Jewish state. This isn’t faith, it’s politics built on hate.</p>
  255. <p>Let’s be clear: this growing… <a href="https://t.co/H5ppThfaSu">https://t.co/H5ppThfaSu</a></p>
  256. <p>&mdash; Brooke Goldstein (@GoldsteinBrooke) <a href="https://twitter.com/GoldsteinBrooke/status/1985371360596570535?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  257. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  258. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  259. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">“This Jew hate stuff has no place in public discourse.” &#8211; Charlie Kirk</p>
  260. <p>The entire TPUSA crowd erupts in applause.</p>
  261. <p> <a href="https://t.co/dOI3EGxhd6">pic.twitter.com/dOI3EGxhd6</a></p>
  262. <p>&mdash; Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) <a href="https://twitter.com/EYakoby/status/1985548996241191128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  263. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  264. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  265. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">I don’t think Kevin gets it. No one asked him to “cancel” anyone, yet this is his opening line? Why is Kevin so confused? Does he really think that anything less than a lifelong endorsement — no matter what — is “cancellation”??<br />It’s creeping me out because it sounds just like… <a href="https://t.co/X2MHx4owv6">https://t.co/X2MHx4owv6</a></p>
  266. <p>&mdash; Suzy Shofar (@suzylebo) <a href="https://twitter.com/suzylebo/status/1985550835581939978?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  267. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  268. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  269. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">The National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, a project of <a href="https://twitter.com/Heritage?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Heritage</a>, has done valuable work. But free speech includes the right to associate—and not to. <br />I cannot serve under someone who thinks Nazis are worth debating. Here is my resignation letter: <a href="https://t.co/ccVHMdlDbO">pic.twitter.com/ccVHMdlDbO</a></p>
  270. <p>&mdash; Mark Goldfeder (@MarkGoldfeder) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkGoldfeder/status/1985000264743416256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  271. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  272. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  273. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Nick Fuentes: “A lot of women want to be raped… They want a guy to beat the shit out of them.”</p>
  274. <p>SO! This is the guy that the Heritage Foundation says should be a legitimate part of the conservative movement.</p>
  275. <p>I wonder why? <br /> <a href="https://t.co/s6QzlO1fAJ">pic.twitter.com/s6QzlO1fAJ</a></p>
  276. <p>&mdash; Lucas Sanders ???????? (@LucasSa56947288) <a href="https://twitter.com/LucasSa56947288/status/1985066110950002874?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  277. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  278. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  279. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">The GOP isn’t just flirting with extremism anymore—it’s opening the door.<br />After Tucker Carlson gave a platform to white nationalist Nick Fuentes, and the Heritage Foundation defended it, the fight inside the Republican Party became impossible to ignore. (link in reply) <a href="https://t.co/KvncYIXBUp">pic.twitter.com/KvncYIXBUp</a></p>
  280. <p>&mdash; Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) ???? (@AdamKinzinger) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamKinzinger/status/1985374622515142769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  281. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  282. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  283. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Note the word “venomous.” America’s top Nazi is using the exact same language as the president of ?<a href="https://twitter.com/Heritage?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Heritage</a>? to describe Jews. This is what I mean when I say that Groypers are baked into a very real portion of the contemporary political right. <a href="https://t.co/2vBEPNZitN">pic.twitter.com/2vBEPNZitN</a></p>
  284. <p>&mdash; Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaxAbrahms/status/1985025658796253232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  285. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  286. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  287. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">The WSJ is right on target regarding the Heritage Foundation, Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes. Fuentes is a sick anti-Semite and who is coddled by Carson, and who in turn is coddled by Heritage. I support a big-tent GOP, but not one with anti-Semites. <a href="https://t.co/eRSD47EEGo">https://t.co/eRSD47EEGo</a></p>
  288. <p>&mdash; Rep. Don Bacon ?????????? (@RepDonBacon) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepDonBacon/status/1985075429280289249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  289. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  290. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  291. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sorry, it&#39;s not &quot;cancel culture&quot; to condemn actual, Hitler-loving racists. Anyone saying they have a seat at the table or who isn&#39;t offended by a cozy conversation with such people are embracing the Left&#39;s lie about the Right. On the Heritage/Nick Fuentes brouhaha <a href="https://twitter.com/NewsNation?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NewsNation</a>: <a href="https://t.co/uuScZGqXu5">pic.twitter.com/uuScZGqXu5</a></p>
  292. <p>&mdash; Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon) <a href="https://twitter.com/bungarsargon/status/1984982746872394076?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  293. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  294. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  295. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is your party and movement, Ben. You created it. You made millions off of hate. You unleashed these freaks on all of us and now they&#39;ve turned on you. Own it. <a href="https://t.co/fMg5tsTjok">https://t.co/fMg5tsTjok</a></p>
  296. <p>&mdash; Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) <a href="https://twitter.com/WajahatAli/status/1985463992626929812?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  297. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  298. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
  299. <p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is not an apology, at all. He doesn&#39;t take back anything he said. He doesn&#39;t criticize Tucker Carlson. He just says he was misunderstood while reiterating all the same nonsense about cancel culture, which is a total red herring. <a href="https://t.co/1lQKr9EjjM">https://t.co/1lQKr9EjjM</a></p>
  300. <p>&mdash; Philip Klein (@philipaklein) <a href="https://twitter.com/philipaklein/status/1985540625521840385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
  301. <p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  302. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/heritage-foundation-bigwig-defending-tucker-carlson-platforming-notorious-anti-semite-accentuates-republican-divisions/">Heritage Foundation Bigwig Defending Tucker  Carlson Platforming Notorious Anti-Semite Accentuates Republican Divisions</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  303. ]]></content:encoded>
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  311. <title>Congress has been dodging responsibility for tariffs for decades — now the Supreme Court will decide how far presidents can go alone</title>
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  316. <pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2025 02:58:11 +0000</pubDate>
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  326. <category><![CDATA[economic policy]]></category>
  327. <category><![CDATA[economics]]></category>
  328. <category><![CDATA[protectionism]]></category>
  329. <category><![CDATA[Taffifs]]></category>
  330. <category><![CDATA[trade]]></category>
  331. <category><![CDATA[Trade protectionism]]></category>
  332. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://themoderatevoice.com/?p=288013</guid>
  333.  
  334. <description><![CDATA[<p>Bedassa Tadesse, University of Minnesota Duluth On Nov. 5, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear one of the most consequential trade cases in decades. The justices will decide whether a president can rely on a Cold War–era emergency law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, to impose sweeping import duties on a vast share of<a class="read-more" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/congress-has-been-dodging-responsibility-for-tariffs-for-decades-now-the-supreme-court-will-decide-how-far-presidents-can-go-alone/"> [&#8230;]</a></p>
  335. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/congress-has-been-dodging-responsibility-for-tariffs-for-decades-now-the-supreme-court-will-decide-how-far-presidents-can-go-alone/">Congress has been dodging responsibility for tariffs for decades &#8212; now the Supreme Court will decide how far presidents can go alone</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  336. ]]></description>
  337. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>  <span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bedassa-tadesse-1531040">Bedassa Tadesse</a>, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-minnesota-duluth-1920">University of Minnesota Duluth</a></em></span></p>
  338. <p>On Nov. 5, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2025/24-1287">one of the most consequential trade cases in decades</a>. The justices will decide whether a president can rely on a Cold War–era emergency law, the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R45618">International Emergency Economic Powers Act</a>, to impose sweeping import duties on a vast share of what the United States buys from abroad.</p>
  339. <p>At stake is more than the scope of presidential power. The case highlights a deeper question of accountability: Who should decide what Americans pay for imported goods – the president acting alone, unelected judges reading emergency laws broadly, or the elected representatives who must face voters when prices rise?</p>
  340. <p>When tariffs end up in court, it’s usually because Congress has failed to act. Over the past few decades, lawmakers have <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/house-republicans-block-congress-ability-challenge-trump-tariffs-2025-03-11/?">ceded much of their trade authority to presidents</a> eager to move quickly – and the courts have been left to clean up the mess. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/tariffs-lawsuit-what-states-sue-0d6531b7f60aaa2f7c6c35e0a944d4a9">Each new lawsuit makes</a> it seem as though judges are running the economy when, in fact, they’re being pulled into policy questions they’re neither trained nor elected to answer.</p>
  341. <p>As <a href="https://lsbe.d.umn.edu/faculty-staff/bedassa-tadesse-phd">an economist</a>, not a lawyer, I view this as more than a constitutional curiosity. It’s about how the world’s largest economy makes decisions that ripple through global markets, factory floors and family budgets. A duty on steel may help a mill in Ohio while raising bridge-construction and <a href="https://www.wardsauto.com/news/archive-auto-tariffs-trump-steel-aluminum-automotive/739872/">car-buying costs</a> everywhere else. A tariff on electronics might nudge assembly onshore yet squeeze hospital and <a href="https://www.k12dive.com/news/tariff-uncertainties-already-impacting-school-purchasing/745896/">school budgets that depend on those devices</a>.</p>
  342. <p>These are choices about distribution – who gains, who pays, and for how long – that demand analysis, transparency and, above all, democratic ownership.</p>
  343. <h2>How did the US get here?</h2>
  344. <p>Congress didn’t exactly lose its tariff power; it gave it away. </p>
  345. <p>The Constitution assigns “<a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/article-1/section-8/">Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises</a>” to Congress, not the White House. Historically, Congress set tariff lines in law – consider <a href="https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/economics/smoot-hawley-tariff-act/">the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act of 1930</a>. The pivot began with the <a href="https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1901-1950/The-Reciprocal-Trade-Agreement-Act-of-1934/">Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act of 1934</a>, which let presidents adjust rates within limits via executive agreements. In the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF13006?">1960s</a> and <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF11346?">’70s</a>, Congress passed laws expanding the president’s authority over trade, granting new powers to restrict or adjust imports without a separate congressional vote if certain conditions are met. </p>
  346. <p>In my view, two key incentives drove the drift: blame avoidance and gridlock. Tariffs are redistributive by design: They benefit some sectors and regions while imposing costs on others. Casting a vote that helps steelworkers in one state but raises prices for builders in another is politically risky. Delegating to the White House allowed lawmakers to sidestep the fallout when prices rise or when jobs shift.</p>
  347. <p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-congress-is-track-be-most-polarized-ever-data-shows-2023-11-06/?">And as polarization intensified</a>, the bargaining that once produced workable compromises became increasingly complex. <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R48435/R48435.3.pdf">Broad emergency statutes</a> and open-ended delegations became the path of least resistance – fast, unilateral and insulated from negotiation. Over time, <a href="https://review.law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/05/Claussen-72-Stan.-L.-Rev.-1097.pdf">exceptions became the norm</a>, and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/most-trump-tariffs-are-not-legal-us-appeals-court-rules-2025-08-30/">courts were tasked with resolving</a> the gray areas.</p>
  348. <p>That’s a poor way to run economic policy. </p>
  349. <p>Judges interpret statutes and precedent; they don’t <a href="https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3928&amp;context=lcp">run general equilibrium models</a>, forecast inflation paths or map supply chain rerouting. Evidence in court is confined to a single case file. Remedies are blunt: They are either to uphold, strike down or send back. Tariff design, by contrast, <a href="https://www.dallasfed.org/%7E/media/documents/research/papers/2025/wp2529.pdf">is about calibration</a>: how high, how long, which sectors, which exclusions, what off-ramps, what triggers for renewal or repeal.</p>
  350. <p>When lawsuits substitute for legislation, countries drift into policy by injunction. Companies see rules whipsaw; projects are delayed or shelved; households experience price swings that feel arbitrary; trading partners retaliate against policies they see as improvisational.</p>
  351. <h2>A matter of accountability</h2>
  352. <p>Accountability sits at the center of the problem. Most judges aren’t elected; lawmakers are. Lifetime tenure protects judicial independence – good for rights, bad for setting taxes. No one can vote out a court when tariffs push up the price of a school Chromebook or a contractor’s rebar.</p>
  353. <p>Members of Congress, by contrast, must explain themselves. They can hold hearings, commission impact analyses, hear from unions and small businesses, and then defend the trade-offs. If tariffs save jobs in one town but raise prices nationwide, voters know exactly whom to reward or punish. That democratic link is why the Constitution places “<a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/article-1/">Duties and Imposts</a>” in the hands of Congress.</p>
  354. <p>None of this means paralysis when it comes to trade policy. The United States has done this before – via <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/RL33743">trade-promotion</a> and <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/IF/PDF/IF10038/IF10038.35.pdf">fast-track authorities</a> that set clear goals and required renewal votes – while <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/about-parliament/en/parliaments-powers/external-policies">the EU</a> and <a href="https://www.mofa.go.jp/na/na2/page24e_000260.html">Japan</a> have paired swift action with built-in <a href="https://policycommons.net/artifacts/2450772/european-parliamentary-oversight-of-trade-policy/3469922/">legislative oversight</a>. </p>
  355. <p>Congress can be nimble without being reckless. Best practices for tariffs include setting clear targets using accessible language, having independent analysts conduct reviews before and after a tariff is put in place, and having diplomacy baked into a broader trade-security strategy that reports retaliation risks.</p>
  356. <h2>The challenge facing the court</h2>
  357. <p>In my view, the Supreme Court’s role here is both modest and vital: to enforce the statute and the constitutional line.</p>
  358. <p>If a general emergency law doesn’t clearly authorize sweeping, long-duration tariffs, it’s not activism to say so plainly. It’s boundary-keeping that returns the pen to Congress. What I think the court should avoid is appearing to write the tariff code from the bench. That swaps democratic ownership for judicial improvisation and guarantees more litigation as a strategy.</p>
  359. <p>In theory, a more public, accountable system would also free everyone to <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/specialization.asp">focus on what they do best</a>. That means economists measuring <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-potential-110b-economic-hit-how-trumps-tariffs-could-mean-rising-costs-for-families-strain-for-states-251028">who gains and who pays</a>, lawmakers weighing trade-offs and answering to voters, and courts enforcing the rules – not designing the policy.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img loading="lazy" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/268555/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p>
  360. <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bedassa-tadesse-1531040">Bedassa Tadesse</a>, Professor of Economics, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-minnesota-duluth-1920">University of Minnesota Duluth</a></em></span></p>
  361. <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/congress-has-been-dodging-responsibility-for-tariffs-for-decades-now-the-supreme-court-will-decide-how-far-presidents-can-go-alone-268555">original article</a>.</p>
  362. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/congress-has-been-dodging-responsibility-for-tariffs-for-decades-now-the-supreme-court-will-decide-how-far-presidents-can-go-alone/">Congress has been dodging responsibility for tariffs for decades &#8212; now the Supreme Court will decide how far presidents can go alone</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  363. ]]></content:encoded>
  365. <wfw:commentRss>https://themoderatevoice.com/congress-has-been-dodging-responsibility-for-tariffs-for-decades-now-the-supreme-court-will-decide-how-far-presidents-can-go-alone/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  366. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  369. </item>
  370. <item>
  371. <title>60 MINUTES IS NO LONGER HARD HITTING NEWS</title>
  372. <link>https://themoderatevoice.com/60-minutes-is-no-longer-hard-hitting-news/</link>
  373. <comments>https://themoderatevoice.com/60-minutes-is-no-longer-hard-hitting-news/#respond</comments>
  375. <dc:creator><![CDATA[CAGLE CARTOONS]]></dc:creator>
  376. <pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2025 02:46:44 +0000</pubDate>
  377. <category><![CDATA[Cartoons]]></category>
  378. <category><![CDATA[Journalism]]></category>
  379. <category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
  380. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  381. <category><![CDATA[60 Minutes]]></category>
  382. <category><![CDATA[CBS]]></category>
  383. <category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category>
  384. <category><![CDATA[Lies]]></category>
  385. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://themoderatevoice.com/?p=288010</guid>
  386.  
  387. <description><![CDATA[<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/60-minutes-is-no-longer-hard-hitting-news/">60 MINUTES IS NO LONGER HARD HITTING NEWS</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  388. ]]></description>
  389. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" src="https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/301500_768_rgb.jpg" alt="" width="768" height="603" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-288011" srcset="https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/301500_768_rgb.jpg 768w, https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/301500_768_rgb-300x236.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" /></p>
  390. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/60-minutes-is-no-longer-hard-hitting-news/">60 MINUTES IS NO LONGER HARD HITTING NEWS</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  391. ]]></content:encoded>
  393. <wfw:commentRss>https://themoderatevoice.com/60-minutes-is-no-longer-hard-hitting-news/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  394. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  397. </item>
  398. <item>
  399. <title>Video evidence versus DHS claims: who you gonna believe?</title>
  400. <link>https://themoderatevoice.com/video-evidence-versus-dhs-claims-who-you-gonna-believe/</link>
  401. <comments>https://themoderatevoice.com/video-evidence-versus-dhs-claims-who-you-gonna-believe/#respond</comments>
  403. <dc:creator><![CDATA[KATHY GILL, Associate Editor]]></dc:creator>
  404. <pubDate>Mon, 03 Nov 2025 21:34:17 +0000</pubDate>
  405. <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
  406. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  407. <category><![CDATA[Society]]></category>
  408. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://themoderatevoice.com/?p=287978</guid>
  409.  
  410. <description><![CDATA[<p>A recent anecdote from Chicago suggests that the Department of Justice is not the only Trump Administration agency to have lost its &#8220;presumption of regularity.&#8221; In the case of DOJ, that means courts are increasingly unlikely to assume the agency is acting in good faith: in other words, acting truthfully while following procedures. Federal agents<a class="read-more" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/video-evidence-versus-dhs-claims-who-you-gonna-believe/"> [&#8230;]</a></p>
  411. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/video-evidence-versus-dhs-claims-who-you-gonna-believe/">Video evidence versus DHS claims: who you gonna believe?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  412. ]]></description>
  413. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A recent anecdote from Chicago suggests that the Department of Justice is not the only Trump Administration agency to have lost its &#8220;presumption of regularity.&#8221; In the case of DOJ, that means courts are increasingly <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/department-justices-broken-accountability-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">unlikely to assume the agency is acting in good faith</a>: in other words, acting truthfully while following procedures.</p>
  414. <p><a href="https://www.memeorandum.com/251103/p34#a251103p34" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Federal agents roughly pulled Dayanne Figueroa, a U.S. citizen, out of her car</a> after a federal vehicle sideswiped hers in a Chicago neighborhood, &#8220;<a href="https://archive.ph/mZEGx#selection-1953.0-1953.450" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">multiple videos reviewed by the [Chicago] Tribune show</a>.&#8221; Reportedly, the DHS vehicle was making a U-turn (which is usually an illegal move).</p>
  415. <blockquote><p>Seconds after the crash, agents abruptly stopped their vehicle and exited with weapons in hand pointing at Figueroa, a U.S citizen. Agents then forcibly opened her door and pulled her out of the vehicle by her legs without identifying themselves, presenting a warrant or informing her that she was under arrest. </p>
  416. <p>As bystanders yelled, “You hit her! We have it on video!” agents ignored the crowd and forced Figueroa into a red minivan and drove away.
  417. </p></blockquote>
  418. <p>&#8220;Pulled her out of the vehicle by her legs.&#8221;</p>
  419. <p>&#8220;No warrant.&#8221;</p>
  420. <p>No identification.</p>
  421. <p><strong>Just unjustified and excessive force</strong> as they &#8220;<a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/202593/federal-agents-immigration-crash-car-drag-woman-by-legs" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">drag[ged] her through the street</a>.&#8221;</p>
  422. <p>Do we have to point out she is a person of color?</p>
  423. <blockquote class="bluesky-embed" data-bluesky-uri="at://did:plc:uz5apa2z3jrxhjjzqw5qik65/app.bsky.feed.post/3m4qq4hjjgc2c" data-bluesky-cid="bafyreidjqlno3woixhnxqw2fo44oodgddpqhdxkn3xeck6kstpelupuc7a" data-bluesky-embed-color-mode="system">
  424. <p lang="en">NEW: Footage of a US citizen in Chicago being rammed then dragged from her car on her way to work.</p>
  425. <p>Abducted, with no warrant, her family couldn’t find her for hours.</p>
  426. <p>She was later released with NO CHARGE. </p>
  427. <p>A DHS statement said she “violently resisted arrest, injuring two officers”.</p>
  428. <p>You decide…</p>
  429. <p><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uz5apa2z3jrxhjjzqw5qik65/post/3m4qq4hjjgc2c?ref_src=embed">[image or embed]</a></p>
  430. <p>&mdash; News Eye (<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uz5apa2z3jrxhjjzqw5qik65?ref_src=embed">@newseye.bsky.social</a>) <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uz5apa2z3jrxhjjzqw5qik65/post/3m4qq4hjjgc2c?ref_src=embed">November 3, 2025 at 11:14 AM</a></p></blockquote>
  431. <p><script async src="https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
  432. <p>They left her car in the middle of the street, keys in the ignition.</p>
  433. <p>The Department of Homeland Security, of course, claims she was at fault and hit their vehicle. And of course, she &#8220;assaulted&#8221; whatever masked man was dragging her out of her car <em>by her legs</em>.* Wouldn&#8217;t you resist in that situation?</p>
  434. <p>But they charged her with nothing. Because they <em>had nothing</em>.</p>
  435. <p>Even if she had been responsible for hitting the DHS vehicle, that is not a criminal offense. So not just excessive force but illegal force.</p>
  436. <p>Why is this not a false arrest? How can DHS employees be exempt from the basic rule of law that governs local and state police, and, one assumes, the FBI? Is it because DHS can kidnap someone and not call it an &#8220;arrest&#8221;?</p>
  437. <p>Based on reports like this one, federal district judge Sara Ellisor had ordered DHS to report daily on their encounters and arrests (&#8220;detentions&#8221;). An <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/seventh-circuit-strikes-down-border-patrol-bovinos-daily-report-requirement/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">appeals court</a> <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/appeals-court-blocks-judges-order-requiring-daily-briefings-on-chicago-immigration-sweeps" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blocked her order</a>.</p>
  438. <blockquote><p>Ellis’ order followed the use of tear gas in a neighborhood where children gathered for a Halloween parade last weekend on Chicago’s Northwest Side. Neighbors joined in the street as someone was arrested.</p></blockquote>
  439. <p>This is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bodycam-footage-conflicts-with-dhs-account-chicago-womans-shooting-by-border-2025-10-08/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">not the first time video evidence contradicts</a> the DHS narrative.</p>
  440. <blockquote><p>A woman who was shot multiple times by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents did not ram them with her car and had her weapon stored in her purse at the time of the incident, according to her lawyer, contradicting accounts by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that described the shooting as an act of self-defense&#8230;</p>
  441. <p>Parente said body camera footage from one of the border patrol agents in the car showed an agent saying &#8220;Do something, bitch&#8221; as Martinez drove alongside them, with the agent&#8217;s finger resting on the trigger of an assault rifle&#8230; </p>
  442. <p>Parente said [body cam] footage showed the driver of the border patrol vehicle turn the steering wheel to the left, toward Martinez&#8217;s vehicle. After the vehicles made contact, the agents stepped out and one fired at Martinez.
  443. </p></blockquote>
  444. <p><a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/202593/federal-agents-immigration-crash-car-drag-woman-by-legs" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">According to The New Republic</a>, assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security Tricia &#8220;McLaughlin’s statements justifying horrific ICE arrests have ranged from <strong>missing essential details</strong> to <strong>contradicting witness testimony</strong> and <strong>straight-up lying</strong> about every single detail of an arrest (emphasis added).&#8221;</p>
  445. <p>DHS expects us to ignore the evidence of our eyes and ears and accept their demonstrably false narratives through a &#8220;presumption of regularity.&#8221; </p>
  446. <p>I refuse.</p>
  447. <p>~~~</p>
  448. <blockquote><p>* According to Figueroa, after getting arrested, she was transported to multiple undisclosed locations, and repeatedly denied contact with family or legal counsel. </p>
  449. <p>“I was in shock and terrified. The video evidence is clear: Agents crashed into me. I was not involved in any protest or related activity, and I intend to seek justice for how I was treated,” Figueroa told the Tribune&#8230;</p>
  450. <p>Teresita Figueroa said she picked up her daughter from an ambulance in a parking lot in Lombard, a suburb west of Chicago. Her daughter was  “very injured, in shock, and bleeding from [kidney] surgery,” she said. They had to rush Dayanne Figueroa to a nearby hospital to get checked.
  451. </p></blockquote>
  452. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/video-evidence-versus-dhs-claims-who-you-gonna-believe/">Video evidence versus DHS claims: who you gonna believe?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  453. ]]></content:encoded>
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  456. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  459. </item>
  460. <item>
  461. <title>The problem with unwanted ballrooms</title>
  462. <link>https://themoderatevoice.com/the-problem-with-unwanted-ballrooms/</link>
  463. <comments>https://themoderatevoice.com/the-problem-with-unwanted-ballrooms/#respond</comments>
  465. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Guest Voice]]></dc:creator>
  466. <pubDate>Mon, 03 Nov 2025 02:35:21 +0000</pubDate>
  467. <category><![CDATA[Government]]></category>
  468. <category><![CDATA[History]]></category>
  469. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  470. <category><![CDATA[Ballroom]]></category>
  471. <category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
  472. <category><![CDATA[Democrats]]></category>
  473. <category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category>
  474. <category><![CDATA[Harry Truman]]></category>
  475. <category><![CDATA[Republicans]]></category>
  476. <category><![CDATA[White House]]></category>
  477. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://themoderatevoice.com/?p=287973</guid>
  478.  
  479. <description><![CDATA[<p>by Christine Flowers “He did WHAT to the East Wing?” If someone called me up at work and said “I knocked down half of your house, and will be installing a pool in your backyard as well as a gazebo at no charge to you,” I would be apoplectic. The idea a stranger would simply<a class="read-more" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/the-problem-with-unwanted-ballrooms/"> [&#8230;]</a></p>
  480. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/the-problem-with-unwanted-ballrooms/">The problem with unwanted ballrooms</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  481. ]]></description>
  482. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" src="https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/rj-matson_trump-white-house-magic-kingdom-and-ballroom-e1762137068163.png" alt="" width="760" height="532" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-287974" /></p>
  483. <p><strong>by Christine Flowers</strong></p>
  484. <p>“He did WHAT to the East Wing?”</p>
  485. <p>If someone called me up at work and said “I knocked down half of your house, and will be installing a pool in your backyard as well as a gazebo at no charge to you,” I would be apoplectic. The idea a stranger would simply decide to “improve” my property without asking for permission is a violation of my privacy, not to mention trespass.</p>
  486. <p>When President Trump announced this summer he was going to build a ballroom, very few people took notice. That’s probably because he was doing so many other things, like meeting with Putin and sending immigrants to pleasant places like El Salvador and the Sudan, that a bit of interior/exterior decorating fell under the radar. Besides that, he promised it wouldn’t encroach on the existing structure because, as he then stated, he loves the White House.</p>
  487. <p>Then he just started demolishing a huge chunk of it. I know people will have different opinions about what happened when they started excavating Jacqueline Kennedy’s Rose Garden and dismantling Eisenhower’s portico. Supporters said he wasn’t “demolishing” the East Wing, just a small section of it. Then, when aerial footage showed that in fact, the East Wing was now a parking lot, defenders of the president pivoted to teach us history lessons about Harry Truman and Barack Obama.</p>
  488. <p>In the case of Truman, they mentioned the fact that he completely renovated the building right after World War II, which makes sense because it hadn’t been renovated in decades. We couldn’t do it sooner because we’d just spent a lot of money saving the free world. Upholstering chairs in the Oval Office were farther down on the list of essentials. They neglected to mention he asked Congress for permission and funding.</p>
  489. <p>As far as Obama was concerned, he repainted the lines on the tennis court so he and some friends could play basketball, and I think he may have also installed a bowling alley. None of these things involved men in construction helmets demolishing an entire wing of the building.</p>
  490. <p>The thing that angered me most about the MAGA response to the renovation was not the fact they were making excuses. It was that they were trying to gaslight us into believing that only Democrats and liberals were angered by the presumptuous acts of Donald Trump.</p>
  491. <p>I am a Reagan conservative. I fought against same sex marriage. I pray the rosary in front of abortion clinics and have given the keynote speech at several pro life events. I have never voted for a Democrat for president, and I believe that the way we deal with Hamas is to hunt down every one and murder them in their beds. I heckle the protestors at the Pro Palestine marches.</p>
  492. <p>My point is it’s not only liberals who are angry at what Trump has done. It is not only Democrats trying to use this as a political card against the president they cannot stand. There are a lot of us who are offended this chief executive assumes the White House is “his” house, just as he assumes the DOJ is “his” DOJ, and that he can sick ICE on whomsoever he pleases, regardless of due process.</p>
  493. <p>So trying to diminish and discount the anger that many Americans felt when they saw their house, our house, redesigned without our permission and without even an attempt to ask for Congressional oversight is annoying.</p>
  494. <p>The usual suspects will always define every critique of the president as whining from the far left. I know that it’s uncomfortable when someone from the right pushes back, but that’s tough.</p>
  495. <p>I also find the argument we “need” a ballroom to be a bit ridiculous. When Nancy Reagan was in the White House, she was widely viewed as an ostentatious Marie Antoinette, even though I loved her style. I’m trying to figure out how she managed to function in that hovel on the Potomac for eight years.</p>
  496. <p>What’s done is done. What’s lost is lost. And we will all get over it, since there are more important things to discuss. But let’s not pretend that Trump did what Harry and Barry did. They asked if we wanted the pool. He just went in and started digging.</p>
  497. <p><em>Copyright 2025 Christine Flowers, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Christine Flowers is an attorney and a columnist for the Delaware County Daily Times, and can be reached at cflowers1961@gmail.com.</em></p>
  498. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/the-problem-with-unwanted-ballrooms/">The problem with unwanted ballrooms</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
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  505. </item>
  506. <item>
  507. <title>Jews Especially are Weighing Mamdani’s Rhetoric</title>
  508. <link>https://themoderatevoice.com/jews-especially-are-weighing-mamdanis-rhetoric/</link>
  509. <comments>https://themoderatevoice.com/jews-especially-are-weighing-mamdanis-rhetoric/#respond</comments>
  511. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Guest Voice]]></dc:creator>
  512. <pubDate>Mon, 03 Nov 2025 00:17:00 +0000</pubDate>
  513. <category><![CDATA[Anti-Semitism]]></category>
  514. <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
  515. <category><![CDATA[Hamas]]></category>
  516. <category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
  517. <category><![CDATA[Jews]]></category>
  518. <category><![CDATA[Muslims]]></category>
  519. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  520. <category><![CDATA[American Jews]]></category>
  521. <category><![CDATA[Antisemitism]]></category>
  522. <category><![CDATA[DBS movement]]></category>
  523. <category><![CDATA[Democrats]]></category>
  524. <category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category>
  525. <category><![CDATA[Genocide]]></category>
  526. <category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
  527. <category><![CDATA[New York City]]></category>
  528. <category><![CDATA[New York City mayoral race]]></category>
  529. <category><![CDATA[October 7 Israel Terrorist Attack]]></category>
  530. <category><![CDATA[Republicans]]></category>
  531. <category><![CDATA[Young Voters]]></category>
  532. <category><![CDATA[Zohran Mamdani]]></category>
  533. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://themoderatevoice.com/?p=287963</guid>
  534.  
  535. <description><![CDATA[<p>By Halie Soifer NEW YORK — There’s an election on Tuesday that has captured the attention of nearly every American Jew – the mayoral race in New York City. Since New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s overwhelming victory in the primary, I have echoed the deeply held concerns of many Jewish Americans about Mamdani’s positions on<a class="read-more" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/jews-especially-are-weighing-mamdanis-rhetoric/"> [&#8230;]</a></p>
  536. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/jews-especially-are-weighing-mamdanis-rhetoric/">Jews Especially are Weighing Mamdani’s Rhetoric</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  537. ]]></description>
  538. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>By Halie Soifer</strong><img loading="lazy" src="https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-e1762127794785.jpg" alt="" width="325" height="488" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-287969" /></p>
  539. <p>NEW YORK — There’s an election on Tuesday that has captured the attention of nearly every American Jew – the mayoral race in New York City. Since New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s overwhelming victory in the primary, I have echoed the deeply held concerns of many Jewish Americans about Mamdani’s positions on a range of issues, and recently reiterated these concerns in the New York Times.</p>
  540. <p>Zohran Mamdani is not a Zionist. He does not support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. He’s repeatedly accused Israel of “genocide,” and failed to unequivocally condemn Hamas for its horrific campaign of terror on October 7. He has threatened to arrest the Israeli Prime Minister should he visit New York, and he supports the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, including divestment of New York pension funds from Israel. These are not new ideas for Mamdani, but rather, his deeply-held beliefs related to Israel, which differentiate him from JDCA, a majority of American Jews, and nearly all Democrats in Congress.</p>
  541. <p>Mamdani has also previously defended the dangerous phrase “globalize the intifada.” He now discourages the use of this phrase, but he’s declined to condemn it, despite the fact that “globalize the intifada” can be seen as a rallying call for antisemitic violence driven by anti-Israel sentiment. This is a position he’s taken despite the recent antisemitic violence targeting Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s residence and Jews on the streets of D.C. and Boulder.</p>
  542. <p>Given Mamdani’s intention to serve as mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, JDCA has conveyed deep concerns about these issues publicly and privately, including with Mamdani himself. We believe that it’s critical to engage with Democrats, even those with whom we disagree, and in this exchange, we raised the fact that if elected mayor, Mamdani would not have the legal authority to do much of what he said regarding Israel. Foreign policy is not determined at the municipal level, and he would not, if elected, have the ability to determine any aspect of U.S. policy pertaining to Israel. For example, the authority to make an arrest of a foreign leader would not be vested in the mayor of New York, and the allocation of pension funds is determined by the New York comptroller, not the mayor.</p>
  543. <p>Regardless of our disagreements on Israel, Mamdani has repeatedly indicated a commitment to ensuring Jewish security and safety in New York, including in recent meetings with Jewish groups and leaders. He has proposed an 800% increase in hate crime prevention funding through a proposed Department of Community Safety, which would help to protect Jewish New Yorkers, institutions, synagogues, and other religious spaces against attack. He also repeatedly committed to support an existing public school curriculum that teaches about Zionism and recognizes that “an important aspect of Jewish American identity is a connection to Israel.”</p>
  544. <p>The New York mayoral race has national implications for American Jews and Democrats, given the very real concerns that exist about Mamdani’s views. Difficult questions about the relationship between anti-Zionism and antisemitism have emerged. For example, can one be an anti-Zionist but not necessarily an antisemite? I would say yes. Could one’s anti-Zionist views, coupled with a refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” possibly fuel antisemitism, including antisemitic violence? Also yes.</p>
  545. <p>Is it possible that Mamdani, whose views on Israel are not aligned with those of many Jewish New Yorkers, wishes no harm on those same New Yorkers and will take measures to protect and defend them against antisemitism? That’s what he’s claiming. Is it possible that Mamdani supports teaching about Zionism in public schools even if he doesn’t support Zionism himself? That’s what he’s said, including at the recent mayoral debate and on ABC. If he wins, will he include Zionists in his administration? He has pledged he will. Ultimately, answers to these difficult questions – which may feel like irreconcilable contradictions and ideological perversions to some – must be decided by each Jewish voter themselves.</p>
  546. <p>Jewish New Yorkers, just like Jewish voters in general, are not a monolith. In fact, nearly 40% of New York Jews recently indicated their support of Mamdani, according to a recent Fox News poll. While another poll showed his support among Jewish voters to be far lower, it’s still clear that Jewish New Yorkers are sharply divided in their views. Even some who may disagree with Mamdani on Israel or distrust him on antisemitism are supporting him because of his aspirational affordability agenda, which is especially appealing to younger voters.</p>
  547. <p>The stakes of this election go beyond American Jews. Donald Trump wants Mamdani to win so he can falsely and dangerously portray all Democrats as “woke socialists” and target the people of his hometown with punitive federal spending cuts and a possible military takeover. Trump and Republicans have unlawfully and unconscionably threatened Mamdani with arrest, deportation, and denaturalization, demonstrating the Islamophobia, xenophobia, and hatred that’s driving their agenda. Donald Trump is weaponizing the U.S. government to attack those who disagree with him, including the ADL, creating a five-alarm fire on our doorstep fueled by fear and hate, and Mamdani is just one of their many targets. Whether Zohran Mamdani wins on Tuesday or not, that fire will continue to spread, and – make no mistake – it’s the largest and most direct threat to American Jews.</p>
  548. <p>We must continue to direct our collective outrage and action at defeating those who have enabled our fast-moving slide toward authoritarianism, while making clear the values we stand for as Jews, even if it means disagreeing with some Democrats on select issues. Mamdani is one such Democrat with whom we disagree, and he’s not the only one. A range of views – some repugnant – have emerged among select Democrats regarding Israel. Despite the Democratic Party as a whole maintaining a pro-Israel consensus, we will continue to speak out against those with whom we disagree.</p>
  549. <p>None of this changes the fact that the greatest threat we face as American Jews is emanating from this White House, not New York City, which is why we’re invested in ensuring Democrats who share our values win their statewide races on Tuesday. No matter the outcome of next week’s elections, we must stand together to continue to give voice to our values and defend our democracy at the ballot box in the midterms.</p>
  550. <p><em>Halie Soifer is CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. <a href="https://www.sdjewishworld.com/2025/10/31/jews-especially-are-weighing-mamdanis-rhetoric/">This article is republished from  San Diego Jewish World</a> which, along with The Moderate Voice, is a member of the San Diego Online News Association.</em></p>
  551. <p>ID <a href="https://www.dreamstime.com/manhattan-new-york-city-august-dominican-heritage-parade-th-ave-zohran-mamdani-image397957106">397957106</a> ©<br />
  552. <a href="https://www.dreamstime.com/adyskin_info">Aleksandr Dyskin</a> | <a href="https://www.dreamstime.com/">Dreamstime.com</a></p>
  553. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/jews-especially-are-weighing-mamdanis-rhetoric/">Jews Especially are Weighing Mamdani’s Rhetoric</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  554. ]]></content:encoded>
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  560. </item>
  561. <item>
  562. <title>Media ownership may explain thin East Wing news</title>
  563. <link>https://themoderatevoice.com/media-ownership-may-explain-thin-east-wing-news/</link>
  564. <comments>https://themoderatevoice.com/media-ownership-may-explain-thin-east-wing-news/#respond</comments>
  566. <dc:creator><![CDATA[KATHY GILL, Associate Editor]]></dc:creator>
  567. <pubDate>Sun, 02 Nov 2025 23:44:28 +0000</pubDate>
  568. <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
  569. <category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
  570. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  571. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://themoderatevoice.com/?p=287958</guid>
  572.  
  573. <description><![CDATA[<p>Although polls consistently show that most Americans oppose the abrupt demolition of the East Wing of the White House, news organization ownership makes reporting the issue a challenge. For example, Amazon, whose founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post, is an East Wing donor. Guess what the editorial board wrote this week, without mentioning that<a class="read-more" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/media-ownership-may-explain-thin-east-wing-news/"> [&#8230;]</a></p>
  574. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/media-ownership-may-explain-thin-east-wing-news/">Media ownership may explain thin East Wing news</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  575. ]]></description>
  576. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Although <a href="https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/53269-what-americans-think-about-the-east-wing-demolition" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">polls consistently show</a> that <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/30/trump-east-wing-ballroom-poll-00629724" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">most Americans oppose</a> the abrupt demolition of the East Wing of the White House, news organization ownership makes reporting the issue a challenge.</p>
  577. <p>For example, Amazon, whose founder <a href="https://www.memeorandum.com/251102/p42#a251102p42" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jeff Bezos owns <em>The Washington Post</em>, is an East Wing donor</a>. Guess what the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/25/ballroom-east-wing-trump-white-house/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">editorial board wrote</a> this week, without mentioning that fact? &#8220;In defense of the White House ballroom&#8221; which shamed opponents as NIMBYs (not in my backyard).</p>
  578. <p>Comcast owns NBC News and MSNBC, but on-air cable personalities have criticized the company for whatever it might have donated. </p>
  579. <p>The only known &#8220;donation&#8221; is $22 million from YouTube in a court settlement filing. No other individual or corporation that the <a href="https://themoderatevoice.com/poll-americans-not-happy-trump-has-bulldozed-the-white-house-also-heres-the-donor-list-and-news-about-the-bunker/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">White House claims as donors</a> have gone on the record. And the White House is now saying some may remain anonymous. (How is this legal?)</p>
  580. <p>Then there are the settlements. Disney (ABC) and Paramount (CBS, wants CNN) settled lawsuits with Donald Trump rather than go to court.</p>
  581. <p>That&#8217;s three networks and one (maybe soon two) cable channel, muzzled. The nation&#8217;s titular paper, muzzled.</p>
  582. <p>There are two topics that seem to be hot potatoes for all news organizations: </p>
  583. <p>(1) the underground bunker that FDR built and Truman expanded Trump has stated the bunker will be modernized. </p>
  584. <p>(2) the status of the East Wing artifacts. If the artifacts were saved, how could that happen without anyone knowing the East Wing was about to be demolished? If they weren&#8217;t, that should be criminal.</p>
  585. <p>So where should you look for news about the East Wing destruction? My recommendation is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/30/americans-disapprove-trump-east-wing-poll" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/10/east-wing-rubble/684703/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Atlantic</a>.</p>
  586. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/media-ownership-may-explain-thin-east-wing-news/">Media ownership may explain thin East Wing news</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  587. ]]></content:encoded>
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  594. <item>
  595. <title>Trump is about to blow through the 1973 War Powers Resolution</title>
  596. <link>https://themoderatevoice.com/trump-is-about-to-blow-through-the-1973-war-powers-resolution/</link>
  597. <comments>https://themoderatevoice.com/trump-is-about-to-blow-through-the-1973-war-powers-resolution/#respond</comments>
  599. <dc:creator><![CDATA[KATHY GILL, Associate Editor]]></dc:creator>
  600. <pubDate>Sun, 02 Nov 2025 03:45:58 +0000</pubDate>
  601. <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
  602. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  603. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://themoderatevoice.com/?p=287953</guid>
  604.  
  605. <description><![CDATA[<p>Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution*, the President has 60 days to obtain approval from Congress for military action. When it comes to bombing civilian boats in the Caribbean, that day is November 4th. Yet the White House doesn&#8217;t plan on asking for an okay, although Donald Trump met the 48 hour deadline for alerting<a class="read-more" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/trump-is-about-to-blow-through-the-1973-war-powers-resolution/"> [&#8230;]</a></p>
  606. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/trump-is-about-to-blow-through-the-1973-war-powers-resolution/">Trump is about to blow through the 1973 War Powers Resolution</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  607. ]]></description>
  608. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution*, the President has 60 days to obtain approval from Congress for military action. When it comes to bombing civilian boats in the Caribbean, that day is November 4th.</p>
  609. <p>Yet the White House doesn&#8217;t plan on asking for an okay, although Donald Trump met the 48 hour deadline for alerting Congress that hostilities had begun.</p>
  610. <p><a href="https://www.memeorandum.com/251101/p42#a251101p42" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">According to The Washington Post</a>:</p>
  611. <blockquote><p>
  612. [T. Elliot Gaiser, head of the Trump administration’s Office of Legal Counsel] has told lawmakers that the Trump administration can continue its lethal strikes against alleged drug traffickers in Latin America — and is not bound by a decades-old law requiring Congress to give approval for ongoing hostilities.
  613. </p></blockquote>
  614. <p>That&#8217;s right. They claim the law doesn&#8217;t apply <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/11/01/trump-venezuela-war-drugs-law/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzYxOTY5NjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzYzMzU1NTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3NjE5Njk2MDAsImp0aSI6ImYxNWRiZTFlLTA1MmQtNDQxOC04MzY1LThmZDMxOGQ2MDI4YyIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9uYXRpb25hbC1zZWN1cml0eS8yMDI1LzExLzAxL3RydW1wLXZlbmV6dWVsYS13YXItZHJ1Z3MtbGF3LyJ9.CKLpu3ZXtVqYELuz0SG8JmBv6pxlelRJrYNnY8y94yM" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">because the military isn&#8217;t at risk</a>.</p>
  615. <blockquote><p>
  616. “What they’re saying is anytime the president uses drones or any standoff weapon against someone who cannot shoot back, it’s not hostilities‚” said Brian Finucane, a former legal adviser to the State Department who is now a senior adviser for the U.S. program at the International Crisis Group. “It’s a wild claim of executive authority”&#8230;</p>
  617. <p>Both Democratic and Republican administrations over the years have “used creative interpretations of the law to skirt the deadline,” he said, but they were not targeting civilians who are not at war with the United States.
  618. </p></blockquote>
  619. <p>Trump has placed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/11/01/venezuela-us-militarty-aircraft-carrier-ships-strikes-caribbean-trump-maduro/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">eight US Navy warships</a> off the coast of Venezuela as well as an aircraft carrier. He also keeps saying strikes might move from sea to land.</p>
  620. <p>Trump has briefed Republicans on the military action in the Caribbean but excluded Democrats.</p>
  621. <p>~~~</p>
  622. <p><a href="https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/news/war-powers-resolution-1973" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The 1973 War Powers Resolution</a> &#8220;is a congressional resolution designed to limit the U.S. president’s ability to initiate or escalate military actions abroad.”</p>
  623. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/trump-is-about-to-blow-through-the-1973-war-powers-resolution/">Trump is about to blow through the 1973 War Powers Resolution</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  624. ]]></content:encoded>
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  627. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  630. </item>
  631. <item>
  632. <title>The shutdown – and the House’s inaction – helps pave Congress’ path to irrelevance</title>
  633. <link>https://themoderatevoice.com/the-shutdown-and-the-houses-inaction-helps-pave-congress-path-to-irrelevance/</link>
  634. <comments>https://themoderatevoice.com/the-shutdown-and-the-houses-inaction-helps-pave-congress-path-to-irrelevance/#respond</comments>
  636. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Guest Voice]]></dc:creator>
  637. <pubDate>Sun, 02 Nov 2025 03:22:48 +0000</pubDate>
  638. <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
  639. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  640. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://themoderatevoice.com/?p=287951</guid>
  641.  
  642. <description><![CDATA[<p>Where’s Congress? The institution is unwilling to assert itself as an equal branch of government. 4X6, iStock/Getty Images Plus Charlie Hunt, Boise State University Many Americans will be voting on Election Day – or have already cast votes – in races for statewide office, local positions and on ballot initiatives with major implications for democracy.<a class="read-more" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/the-shutdown-and-the-houses-inaction-helps-pave-congress-path-to-irrelevance/"> [&#8230;]</a></p>
  643. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/the-shutdown-and-the-houses-inaction-helps-pave-congress-path-to-irrelevance/">The shutdown – and the House’s inaction – helps pave Congress’ path to irrelevance</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  644. ]]></description>
  645. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="theconversation-article-body">
  646. <figure>
  647.      <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/699751/original/file-20251031-66-ksrga5.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&#038;rect=0%2C164%2C3150%2C1771&#038;q=45&#038;auto=format&#038;w=754&#038;fit=clip" /><figcaption>
  648.          Where’s Congress? The institution is unwilling to assert itself as an equal branch of government.<br />
  649.          <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/capital-washington-dc-royalty-free-image/175996744?phrase=Congress%20building%20closed&#038;searchscope=image%2Cfilm&#038;adppopup=true">4X6, iStock/Getty Images Plus</a></span><br />
  650.        </figcaption></figure>
  651. <p>  <span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/charlie-hunt-1364391">Charlie Hunt</a>, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/boise-state-university-1983">Boise State University</a></em></span></p>
  652. <p>Many Americans will be voting on Election Day – or have already cast votes – in races for <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5575047-virginia-governor-redistricting-election/">statewide office</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10/30/nyregion/nyc-mayor-election-news">local positions</a> and on <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/28/republicans-defeating-california-gerrymander-00624195">ballot initiatives</a> with major implications for democracy.</p>
  653. <p>Congress is not on the ballot this November, but it will be in the 2026 midterms. A year from now, Americans in every state and district will get to vote for whom they want representing their interests in Washington.</p>
  654. <p>But right now, Congress isn’t giving the American people much to go on. </p>
  655. <p>As the shutdown of the federal government passes the one-month mark, the U.S. House of Representatives has been in recess for over 40 days. That’s <a href="https://www.wakeuptopolitics.com/p/the-house-is-on-an-unprecedented">the longest it’s ever stayed out of town</a> outside of its typical summer recesses or the weeks leading up to their own elections.</p>
  656. <p>Notably, the shutdown does not mean that Congress can’t meet. In fact, it must meet to end the shutdown legislatively. The Senate, for example, has taken votes recently on <a href="https://www.alreporter.com/2025/10/29/u-s-senate-confirms-bill-lewis-to-serve-as-alabama-federal-judge/">judicial nominations</a>, a <a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/congress/2025/10/senate-passes-its-version-of-2026-ndaa-amid-government-shutdown/">major defense authorization bill</a> and a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/10/30/nx-s1-5591301/senate-trump-tariffs">resolution on tariff policy</a>. </p>
  657. <p>Senators have also continued to hold <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/10/30/congress/katie-britt-chuck-schumer-shutdown-chat-00630206">bipartisan behind-the-scenes negotiations</a> to end the shutdown impasse.</p>
  658. <p>But with <a href="https://apnews.com/article/snap-food-aid-ruling-shutdown-trump-09f9807264385f0beab61a68dcbbdd66">dwindling SNAP benefits</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/28/politics/obamacare-premiums-increase-2026-coverage">skyrocketing health care premiums</a> and other major shutdown impacts beginning to set in, the House has all but abdicated its position as “The People’s Chamber.”</p>
  659. <h2>Long ‘path to irrelevance’</h2>
  660. <p>In addition to not meeting for any votes, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has <a href="https://azmirror.com/briefs/johnson-sets-record-refusing-to-swear-in-adelita-grijalva-for-36-days-after-she-won-election/">refused to swear in</a> Democratic U.S. Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva of Arizona. Despite <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/21/politics/adelita-grijalva-lawsuit-sworn-in-house">Johnson’s assurances</a>, the shutdown does not prevent the House from meeting in a brief session to swear in Grijalva as a member for Arizona’s 7th District, which has been without representation since March.</p>
  661. <p>Along with <a href="https://www.caseyburgat.com/">Casey Burgat</a> and <a href="https://sorellewg.com/">SoRelle Wyckoff Gaynor</a>, I am co-author of a textbook, “<a href="https://collegepublishing.sagepub.com/products/congress-explained-2-290898">Congress Explained: Representation and Lawmaking in the First Branch</a>.” In that book, it was important to us to highlight Congress’ clear role as the preeminent lawmaking body in the federal government. </p>
  662. <p>But throughout the shutdown battle, Congress – particularly the House of Representatives – has been unwilling to assert itself as an equal branch of government. Beyond policymaking, Congress has been content to hand over many of its core constitutional powers to the executive branch. As a <a href="https://www.charlesrhunt.com/">Congress expert</a> who loves the institution and profoundly respects its constitutionally mandated role, I have found this renunciation of responsibility difficult to watch.</p>
  663. <p>And yet, Congress’ path to irrelevance as a body of government did not begin during the shutdown, or even in January 2025. </p>
  664. <p>It is the result of decades of erosion that created a political culture in which Congress, the first branch of government listed in the Constitution, is relegated to second-class status.</p>
  665. <figure class="align-center zoomable">
  666.            <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/667986/original/file-20250514-56-gmw520.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a suit with a blue tie, holding a folder with a white document in it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/667986/original/file-20250514-56-gmw520.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/667986/original/file-20250514-56-gmw520.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/667986/original/file-20250514-56-gmw520.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/667986/original/file-20250514-56-gmw520.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/667986/original/file-20250514-56-gmw520.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/667986/original/file-20250514-56-gmw520.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/667986/original/file-20250514-56-gmw520.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"/></a><figcaption>
  667.              <span class="caption">President Donald Trump holds one of the many executive orders he has signed during his second term.</span><br />
  668.              <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-donald-trump-speaks-to-the-media-while-signing-news-photo/2213049268?adppopup=true">Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images</a></span><br />
  669.            </figcaption></figure>
  670. <h2>The Constitution puts Congress first</h2>
  671. <p>The 18th-century framers of the Constitution viewed Congress as the foundation of republican governance, deliberately <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvmd856f">placing it first in Article 1</a> to underscore its primacy. Congress was assigned the pivotal tasks of lawmaking and budgeting because controlling government finances was seen as essential to <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-claims-of-vast-presidential-powers-run-up-against-article-2-of-the-constitution-and-exceed-previous-presidents-power-grabs-249662">limiting executive power and preventing abuses</a> that the framers associated with monarchy. </p>
  672. <p>Alternatively, a weak legislature and an <a href="https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.17468">imperial executive</a> were precisely what many of the founders feared. With legislative authority in the hands of Congress, power would at least be decentralized among a wide variety of elected leaders from different parts of the country, each of whom would jealously guard <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed10.asp">their own local interests</a>. </p>
  673. <p>But Trump’s first 100 days turned the founders’ original vision on its head, leaving the “first branch” to play second fiddle. </p>
  674. <p>Like most recent presidents, Trump came in with his party in control of the presidency, the House and the Senate. Yet despite the lawmaking power that this <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-agenda-will-face-hurdles-in-congress-despite-the-republican-trifecta-of-winning-the-house-senate-and-white-house-243550">governing trifecta</a> can bring, the Republican majorities in Congress have mostly been irrelevant to Trump’s agenda.</p>
  675. <p>Instead, Congress has <a href="https://time.com/7281249/congress-trump-100-days/">relied on Trump</a> and the executive branch to make changes to federal policy and in many cases to reshape the federal government completely. </p>
  676. <p>Trump <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/presidential-documents/executive-orders/donald-trump/2025">has signed more than 210 executive orders</a>, a pace faster than any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Republican Congress has shown little interest in pushing back on any of them. Trump has also aggressively reorganized, defunded or <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/elon-musk-calls-for-the-u-s-to-delete-entire-agencies-from-federal-government">simply deleted</a> entire agencies, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.</p>
  677. <p>These actions have been carried out even though Congress has a clear constitutional authority over the executive branch’s budget. And during the shutdown, Congress has shown little to no interest in reasserting its “<a href="https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Power-of-the-Purse/">power of the purse</a>,” content instead to <a href="https://theconversation.com/congress-not-the-president-decides-on-government-spending-a-constitutional-law-professor-explains-how-the-power-of-the-purse-works-248644">let the president decide</a> which individuals and agencies receive funding, regardless of what Congress has prescribed.</p>
  678. <h2>Many causes, no easy solutions</h2>
  679. <p>There’s no one culprit but instead a collection of factors that have provided the ineffectual Congress of today.</p>
  680. <p>One overriding factor is a process that has unfolded over the past 50 or more years <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/01/1132933077/voters-everywhere-are-talking-about-the-same-issues-heres-why-that-matters">called political nationalization</a>. American politics have become increasingly centered on national issues, parties and figures rather than more local concerns or individuals. </p>
  681. <p>This shift has elevated the importance of the president as the symbolic and practical leader of a national party agenda. Simultaneously, it weakens the role of individual members of Congress, who are now more likely to toe the party line than represent local interests. </p>
  682. <figure class="align-center zoomable">
  683.            <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/699747/original/file-20251031-56-xjtz2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="A brown-haired woman in a red jacket stands at a microphone in front of three American flags, speaking." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/699747/original/file-20251031-56-xjtz2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/699747/original/file-20251031-56-xjtz2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/699747/original/file-20251031-56-xjtz2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/699747/original/file-20251031-56-xjtz2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/699747/original/file-20251031-56-xjtz2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/699747/original/file-20251031-56-xjtz2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/699747/original/file-20251031-56-xjtz2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"/></a><figcaption>
  684.              <span class="caption">U.S. Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat who won a special election on Sept. 23, 2025, has not been sworn in by House Speaker Mike Johnson.</span><br />
  685.              <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rep-elect-adelita-grijalva-d-ariz-speaks-as-house-minority-news-photo/2242061229?adppopup=true">Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images</a></span><br />
  686.            </figcaption></figure>
  687. <p>As a result, voters focus more on presidential elections and less on congressional ones, granting the president greater influence and diminishing Congress’ independent authority.</p>
  688. <p>The more Congress polarizes among its members on a party-line basis, the less the public is likely to trust the legitimacy of its opposition to a president. Instead, congressional pushback ? sometimes <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-impeachment-trial-02-13-2021">as extreme as impeachment</a> ? can thus be written off not as principled or substantive but as partisan or politically motivated to a greater extent than ever before.</p>
  689. <p>Congress has also been complicit in giving away its own power. Especially when dealing with a polarized Congress, presidents increasingly <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-unveils-federal-budget-blueprint-2025-05-02/">steer the ship</a> in budget negotiations, which can lead to more local priorities – the ones Congress is supposed to represent – being ignored. </p>
  690. <p>But rather than Congress staking out positions for itself, as it often did through the turn of the 21st century, political science research has shown that presidential positions on domestic policy <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo8158910.html">increasingly dictate – and polarize</a> – Congress’ own positions on policy that hasn’t traditionally been divisive, such as funding support for NASA. Congress’ positions on procedural issues, such as raising the debt ceiling or eliminating the filibuster, also increasingly depend not on bedrock principles but <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo8158910.html">on who occupies the White House</a>.</p>
  691. <p>In the realm of foreign policy, Congress has <a href="https://www.legbranch.org/the-precarious-state-of-war-powers/">all but abandoned</a> its constitutional power to declare war, settling instead for “authorizations” of military force that the president wants to assert. These give the commander in chief wide latitude over war powers, and both Democratic and Republican presidents have been happy to retain that power. They have used these congressional approvals to <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/102/hjres77/text">engage in extended conflicts such as the Gulf War</a> in the early 1990s and the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house-joint-resolution/114/text">wars in Iraq and Afghanistan</a> a decade later.</p>
  692. <h2>What’s lost with a weak Congress</h2>
  693. <p>Americans lose a lot when Congress hands over such drastic power to the executive branch. </p>
  694. <p>When individual members of Congress from across the country take a back seat, their districts’ distinctly local problems are less likely to be addressed with the power and resources that Congress can bring to an issue. Important local perspectives on national issues fail to be represented in Congress. </p>
  695. <p>Even members of the same political party represent districts with vastly different economies, demographics and geography. Members are supposed to keep this in mind when legislating on these issues, but presidential control over the process makes that difficult or even impossible.</p>
  696. <p>Maybe more importantly, a weak Congress paired with what historian Arthur Schlesinger called the “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Imperial_Presidency/ZkxlY4S2iWYC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=0">Imperial Presidency</a>” is a recipe for an unaccountable president, running wild without the constitutionally provided oversight and checks on power that the founders provided to the people through their representation by the first branch of government.</p>
  697. <p><em>This is an updated version of a story that first published on May 15, 2025.</em><!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img loading="lazy" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/268536/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p>
  698. <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/charlie-hunt-1364391">Charlie Hunt</a>, Associate Professor of Political Science, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/boise-state-university-1983">Boise State University</a></em></span></p>
  699. <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-shutdown-and-the-houses-inaction-helps-pave-congress-path-to-irrelevance-268536">original article</a>.</p>
  700. </div>
  701. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/the-shutdown-and-the-houses-inaction-helps-pave-congress-path-to-irrelevance/">The shutdown – and the House’s inaction – helps pave Congress’ path to irrelevance</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
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  710. <title>MIKE JOHNSON IS A COWARD</title>
  711. <link>https://themoderatevoice.com/mike-johnson-is-a-coward/</link>
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  715. <pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2025 22:26:38 +0000</pubDate>
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  731. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/mike-johnson-is-a-coward/">MIKE JOHNSON IS A COWARD</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
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  740. <title>SNAP benefit freeze will leave millions nationwide struggling to pay for food — including 472,711 people in Philadelphia</title>
  741. <link>https://themoderatevoice.com/snap-benefit-freeze-will-leave-millions-nationwide-struggling-to-pay-for-food-including-472711-people-in-philadelphia/</link>
  742. <comments>https://themoderatevoice.com/snap-benefit-freeze-will-leave-millions-nationwide-struggling-to-pay-for-food-including-472711-people-in-philadelphia/#respond</comments>
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  745. <pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2025 22:17:28 +0000</pubDate>
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  763.  
  764. <description><![CDATA[<p>Currently, SNAP benefits average just over $6 per person per day. Catherine McQueen/Moment Collection via Getty Images Félice Lê-Scherban, Drexel University The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is the largest, most effective tool the U.S. has to reduce food insecurity. As of late 2025, it helps more than 42 million people – including 2<a class="read-more" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/snap-benefit-freeze-will-leave-millions-nationwide-struggling-to-pay-for-food-including-472711-people-in-philadelphia/"> [&#8230;]</a></p>
  765. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/snap-benefit-freeze-will-leave-millions-nationwide-struggling-to-pay-for-food-including-472711-people-in-philadelphia/">SNAP benefit freeze will leave millions nationwide struggling to pay for food &#8212; including 472,711 people in Philadelphia</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  766. ]]></description>
  767. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>      <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/698945/original/file-20251028-56-peys2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&#038;rect=0%2C437%2C8368%2C4707&#038;q=45&#038;auto=format&#038;w=754&#038;fit=clip" /><figcaption>
  768.          Currently, SNAP benefits average just over $6 per person per day.<br />
  769.          <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-multiracial-girl-reaches-into-the-royalty-free-image/1858530660?phrase=food%20insecurity">Catherine McQueen/Moment Collection via Getty Images</a></span><br />
  770.        </figcaption><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/felice-le-scherban-2512283">Félice Lê-Scherban</a>, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/drexel-university-1074">Drexel University</a></em></span></p>
  771. <p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap-20849">Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program</a>, or SNAP, is the largest, most effective tool the U.S. has to reduce food insecurity. As of late 2025, it helps more than 42 million people – <a href="https://usafacts.org/answers/how-many-people-receive-snap-benefits-in-the-us-every-month/state/pennsylvania/">including 2 million Pennsylvanians</a> and <a href="https://www.wgal.com/article/snap-recipients-pennsylvania/65379625">nearly half a million Philadelphians</a> – buy groceries.</em></p>
  772. <p><em>But starting Nov. 1, 2025, Pennsylvania will stop distributing SNAP benefits due to the federal government shutdown, which <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/government-shutdown-key-dates-social-security-wic-smithsonian-museums-rcna235198">began Oct. 1</a>.</em></p>
  773. <p><em>Félice Lê-Scherban, a <a href="https://drexel.edu/dornsife/academics/faculty/Felice%20Le-Scherban/">public health researcher</a> and associate professor of epidemiology at Drexel University, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&amp;user=G7qFIt8AAAAJ&amp;view_op=list_works&amp;sortby=pubdate">studies food insecurity</a> among <a href="https://childrenshealthwatch.org/%22%22">low-income young children and their families</a> in Philadelphia. The Conversation U.S. asked her about the program and what impact its suspension would have – especially in Philadelphia.</em></p>
  774. <h2>What is SNAP?</h2>
  775. <p>SNAP benefits – <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-fdrs-food-stamps-to-trumps-harvest-boxes-the-history-of-helping-the-poor-get-enough-to-eat-91813">sometimes called food stamps</a> – are provided through a federally funded program administered by the states. The amount of help received depends on a family’s income and the number and ages of the people in the household. Currently, benefits average <a href="https://clsphila.org/highlights/snap-fuels-pennsylvania">just over US$6 per person per day</a>. In Pennsylvania, the monthly benefits are loaded onto participants’ <a href="https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dhs/resources/snap/ebt">electronic benefits transfer cards</a>, or EBT cards, during the first 10 business days of each month.</p>
  776. <p>Researchers have found that SNAP benefits <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/data-research/data-visualization/snap/action">reduce poverty and food insecurity</a> – a term for when people don’t have consistent access to enough food for all household members to lead active, healthy lives. It also contributes to <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2019.04.027">healthy growth and development in childhood</a>, and lower risks for obesity, diabetes, hypertension and poor mental health <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305325">later in life</a>. </p>
  777. <p>Studies have also found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05265">when eligible families lose access to SNAP benefits</a>, even temporarily, they are more likely to get sick, and their children are at a greater risk of developmental delays. </p>
  778. <p>Additionally, losing SNAP and similar benefits can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05265">strain household finances</a>, forcing low-income people to choose between skipping meals or forgoing other basic needs like rent, utilities and prescription drugs.</p>
  779. <p><iframe id="RpGrZ" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/RpGrZ/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: 0;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
  780. <h2>How is the government shutdown affecting SNAP benefits in Pennsylvania?</h2>
  781. <p>The Department of Agriculture notified SNAP state agency directors in October that it would stop funding the program should the shutdown continue past Nov. 1. The federal agency <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/federal-food-aid-govenrment-shutdown/">directed all states to withhold November benefits</a> until further notice. </p>
  782. <p>The USDA is taking this step even though it has <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/snaps-contingency-reserve-is-available-for-regular-snap-benefits-as-usda">more than $5 billion</a> in its coffers, which could fund approximately <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/blog/the-trump-administration-can-and-should-take-available-steps-to-ensure-snap-participants-get">two-thirds of what the nation spends each month</a> on SNAP benefits.</p>
  783. <p>In the more than <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/history">60-year history</a> of SNAP and the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK206907/">programs that preceded it</a>, the USDA has never before <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/blog/the-trump-administration-can-and-should-take-available-steps-to-ensure-snap-participants-get">refused to spend contingency funds</a> to disburse monthly benefits. During previous shutdowns, including the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/longest-government-shutdown-vis">35 days in 2018-2019</a>, the federal government used the department’s contingency funds to ensure SNAP wasn’t interrupted.</p>
  784. <p>On Oct. 17, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services <a href="https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dhs/resources/snap">issued a statement</a> to the more than <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/snap_factsheet_pennsylvania.pdf">2 million Pennsylvanians participating in SNAP</a>. It warned them that they won’t receive their November benefits or any benefits thereafter until the USDA releases funds again. </p>
  785. <p>Pennsylvania is also among 17 states that have <a href="https://www.compass.dhs.pa.gov/home/#/">suspended approving new SNAP applications</a> until the government reopens, leaving hundreds, if not thousands, of food-insecure families in a prolonged state of hardship. </p>
  786. <p>This disruption is likely to rattle the broader economy. About 12% of U.S. grocery sales are <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/01/snap-benefit-cuts-americans-food-grocery-shopping.html">made with SNAP benefits</a>, and <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/snap-retailers-database">over 9,800 supermarkets and other Pennsylvania retailers</a> accept them.</p>
  787. <p><iframe id="KdbiX" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/KdbiX/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: 0;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
  788. <h2>What does this mean for people in Philadelphia?</h2>
  789. <p>There are <a href="https://www.wgal.com/article/snap-recipients-pennsylvania/65379625">over 470,000 SNAP recipients in Philadelphia</a> – 3 in 10 Philadelphians – who will not receive these benefits until the government shutdown ends.</p>
  790. <p>In the meantime, state agencies are urging people who get SNAP benefits to <a href="https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dhs">visit food banks, food pantries and soup kitchens</a>, which are run by nonprofits and not the government. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that those organizations will be able to keep up. For every meal nonprofits provide, <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2020-03/Feeding%20America%20orange%20slice%20AHPC%202020.pdf">SNAP provides nine</a>.</p>
  791. <p>Additionally, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/pennsylvanias-budget-crisis-drags-on-as-fed-shutdown-adds-to-residents-hardships-267382">Pennsylvania state budget impasse</a> – the Commonwealth has been without a budget for nearly four months – has already affected other state-run programs that <a href="https://www.phillyvoice.com/snap-benefits-government-shutdown-philadelphia-food-banks/">food banks in Philadelphia</a> rely on.</p>
  792. <p>This is particularly troubling because even when receiving their full benefit, most people who are enrolled in SNAP across the country say that they frequently <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/research/snap/barriers-constrain-adequacy-allotments">struggle to afford a healthy diet</a>. </p>
  793. <p>Low-income parents and guardians in Philadelphia, according to research I’ve conducted and studies by my colleagues, say they strain to stretch their dollars to <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2025.03.009">feed their children amid rising food prices</a>, and sometimes <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100393">skip meals or delay paying bills</a> when the benefit runs out before the end of the month. </p>
  794. <p>A robust body of evidence has demonstrated the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/134.6.1432">serious mental and physical harm</a> that food insecurity – even for short periods – causes across the lifespan. It can lead to <a href="https://childrenshealthwatch.org/the-health-and-educational-costs-related-to-food-insecurity/">billions of dollars of avoidable costs</a> due to health care and educational needs, and lost productivity.</p>
  795. <p>How this disruption of SNAP and other nutrition programs increases food insecurity will be hard to measure. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-scraps-the-nations-most-comprehensive-food-insecurity-report-making-it-harder-to-know-how-many-americans-struggle-to-get-enough-food-266006">Trump administration has canceled</a> the USDA’s long-standing annual report on food security.</p>
  796. <p><iframe id="AqPvV" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/AqPvV/5/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: 0;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
  797. <h2>What can state and federal leaders do to fund the program?</h2>
  798. <p>The federal government and Pennsylvania lawmakers have options to at least restore some SNAP benefits in the state while the shutdown continues.</p>
  799. <p>The USDA can reverse its earlier ruling and disburse its more than $5 billion in emergency funds and issue guidance that states should continue to accept and process new SNAP applications. This would help states provide at least <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/us/politics/food-stamps-agriculture-department.html">partial benefits to their residents enrolled in SNAP</a> and ensure that new applicants get all the benefits they’re eligible for.</p>
  800. <p>The federal government can allocate discretionary and reserve funds to SNAP for the duration of the shutdown so benefits are not interrupted. The government did this with <a href="https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-wic-food-a6d66fa0ce3d02257b5b43a79355b1bf">Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children</a>, or WIC benefits, as well as <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-administration-to-release-farm-aid-frozen-by-shutdown-e338d9ce">farm aid</a> earlier this month.</p>
  801. <p>The government of Pennsylvania and other state governments can pick up the costs of the program for November with their own state budget stabilization funds, also known as “<a href="https://taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-are-state-rainy-day-funds-and-how-do-they-work">rainy day funds</a>.” Pennsylvania’s rainy day fund holds <a href="https://www.patreasury.gov/newsroom/archive/2024/9-25-RDF.html">more than $7 billion</a> – well above what’s needed to cover its SNAP benefits for November. <a href="https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-news/virginia-emergency-plan-for-snap-food-benefits-oct-24-2025">Some states</a> have already committed to doing this.</p>
  802. <p><em>Read more of our stories about <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/philadelphia-pennsylvania-news">Philadelphia and Pennsylvania</a>.</em><!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img loading="lazy" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/268337/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p>
  803. <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/felice-le-scherban-2512283">Félice Lê-Scherban</a>, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/drexel-university-1074">Drexel University</a></em></span></p>
  804. <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/snap-benefit-freeze-will-leave-millions-nationwide-struggling-to-pay-for-food-including-472-711-people-in-philadelphia-268337">original article</a>.</p>
  805. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/snap-benefit-freeze-will-leave-millions-nationwide-struggling-to-pay-for-food-including-472711-people-in-philadelphia/">SNAP benefit freeze will leave millions nationwide struggling to pay for food &#8212; including 472,711 people in Philadelphia</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  806. ]]></content:encoded>
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  812. </item>
  813. <item>
  814. <title>How Would Candidates Respond to Teens Attacking Jewish Children?</title>
  815. <link>https://themoderatevoice.com/how-would-candidates-respond-to-teens-attacking-jewish-children/</link>
  816. <comments>https://themoderatevoice.com/how-would-candidates-respond-to-teens-attacking-jewish-children/#respond</comments>
  818. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Guest Voice]]></dc:creator>
  819. <pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2025 21:56:16 +0000</pubDate>
  820. <category><![CDATA[Anti-Semitism]]></category>
  821. <category><![CDATA[At TMV]]></category>
  822. <category><![CDATA[Bigotry]]></category>
  823. <category><![CDATA[Jews]]></category>
  824. <category><![CDATA[Muslims]]></category>
  825. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  826. <category><![CDATA[Racism]]></category>
  827. <category><![CDATA[Religion]]></category>
  828. <category><![CDATA[Andrew Cuomo]]></category>
  829. <category><![CDATA[Antisemitism]]></category>
  830. <category><![CDATA[Chicago]]></category>
  831. <category><![CDATA[Curtis Sliwa]]></category>
  832. <category><![CDATA[Graham Platner]]></category>
  833. <category><![CDATA[Hamas]]></category>
  834. <category><![CDATA[Hate]]></category>
  835. <category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
  836. <category><![CDATA[Jack Ciattarelli]]></category>
  837. <category><![CDATA[Maine governor race]]></category>
  838. <category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
  839. <category><![CDATA[New Jersey governor race]]></category>
  840. <category><![CDATA[New York City mayoral race]]></category>
  841. <category><![CDATA[Oct 7 Hamas Attack]]></category>
  842. <category><![CDATA[Police]]></category>
  843. <category><![CDATA[Rep. Mikie Sherrill]]></category>
  844. <category><![CDATA[Skokie]]></category>
  845. <category><![CDATA[Teenagers]]></category>
  846. <category><![CDATA[Zohran Mamdani]]></category>
  847. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://themoderatevoice.com/?p=287937</guid>
  848.  
  849. <description><![CDATA[<p>by Bruce S. Ticker As the Middle East crisis stains four election campaigns, a small army of teen-agers in Skokie, Illinois, ganged up on five Jewish children on Oct. 7 as they shouted antisemitic insults and fired gel pellets at them from a recreational gun, according to media reports. Transparency to the public in this<a class="read-more" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/how-would-candidates-respond-to-teens-attacking-jewish-children/"> [&#8230;]</a></p>
  850. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/how-would-candidates-respond-to-teens-attacking-jewish-children/">How Would Candidates Respond to Teens Attacking Jewish Children?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
  851. ]]></description>
  852. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" src="https://themoderatevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/dreamstime_s_163759360-1-e1761860071483.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="600" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-287938" /></p>
  853. <p><strong>by Bruce S. Ticker</strong></p>
  854. <p>As the Middle East crisis stains four election campaigns, a small army of teen-agers in Skokie, Illinois, ganged up on five Jewish children on Oct. 7 as they shouted antisemitic insults and fired gel pellets at them from a recreational gun, according to media reports.</p>
  855. <p>Transparency to the public in this Chicago suburb, including its sizeable Jewish population, was hardly a priority for town officials, and we wonder how three shameless candidates for New York City mayor, New Jersey governor and a Senate seat in Maine, and a more temperate Senate hopeful in Massachusetts, would contend with the Skokie incident.</p>
  856. <p>“There is no place for hate in Skokie,” says Mayor Ann Tennes in a statement, as quoted by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Our community has long been built on respect, inclusion and care for one another. The Village remains committed to standing against antisemitism and all forms of bias, and to ensuring Skokie continues to be a safe and welcoming place for everyone.”</p>
  857. <p>Nice of the mayor to say so, but Skokie was a “place for hate” exactly two years after Hamas’ savage invasion of southern Israel when 1,200 people were murdered. Nearly a half-century ago, Skokie made national headlines when it was the site of plans for a neo-Nazi march on May 1, 1977. In the wake of massive pressure, they held their demonstration in Chicago and the episode was recounted in the TV-movie Skokie.</p>
  858. <p>JTA reports that the Oct. 7 incident occurred when five children between 8 and 13 in a public park were asked by another group of children if they were Jewish, according to the Chicago Jewish Alliance.</p>
  859. <p>The five children acknowledged they were Jews, and the other group of 20 assailants aged 12 to 14 allegedly shouted “f—k Israel and “you are baby killers so we are going to kill you,” and then shot the pellets. These details were published on a Facebook post by Daniel and Robyn Burgher Ackerman, the parents of a 13-year-old who was among the victims.</p>
  860. <p>The assailants also allegedly told the children that they would “get a real gun and kill you Jews,” according to the Chicago Jewish Alliance. Police said that one child was struck in the leg by a pellet. They labeled the incident a hate crime.</p>
  861. <p>On the town’s website, police reported that they “identified and spoke to all known youth involved…as well as several adults who reported witnessing parts of the incident. The minor who discharged the gel blaster has been identified.”</p>
  862. <p>The notice added, the police “investigation…is now complete. Under the Illinois Juvenile Justice Court Act, which takes a restorative approach to cases involving minors, the department is restricted from providing further information regarding actions taken related to the minor who discharged the gel blaster. Although the department’s investigation has concluded, the resolution of this incident will be ongoing.”</p>
  863. <p>It is routine practice for police to conceal the names of juveniles, but they need to describe the consequences for the assailants, including both punishment and counseling so the assailants can comprehend what they did.</p>
  864. <p>It is also important to learn where teen-agers this young get these ideas about Jews and decide to punish the Jewish children for Israel’s perceived policies. They had no idea that many American Jews have protested Israel’s role in the war, nor did it occur to them that most Jews are likely too confused to reach any conclusions about it.</p>
  865. <p>At 12 or 14 years old, it is not plausible that these bullies came to their simplistic attitudes on their own. They could not think for themselves about such a complicated issue. Someone was influencing them and it would be helpful to find out who they are.</p>
  866. <p>Based on their Israel-related attitudes, it is hard to trust three of the four candidates to treat antisemitic incidents with sensitivity and proficiency.</p>
  867. <p>The most visible candidate to frighten Jewish voters missed – or avoided? – an opportunity to recognize the need to crack down on anti-Israel protesters who violate the law.</p>
  868. <p>During the first televised debate in New York City’s mayoral election, Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa recounted that some protesters have violated the law, particularly when they surge up the streets without permits. Both Sliwa and independent rival Andrew Cuomo, the state’s former governor, agreed that government must respond to criminal violations while defending anyone’s right to peacefully protest.</p>
  869. <p>Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim who has been attacked for seeking divestment from Israel and his refusal to condemn the term “globalize the intifida,” pledged to uphold the right to protest, but neglected to mention his stand on legal violations.</p>
  870. <p>“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Sliwa told Mamdani last week during the second debate as election day looms next Tuesday.</p>
  871. <p>Playing the religion card, Mamdani replied, “I am the first Muslim candidate who is on the precipice of being the next mayor.”</p>
  872. <p>Cuomo told him, “Forget this idea of not prosecuting misdemeanors.”</p>
  873. <p>Mamdani shot back that he never said he will not prosecute misdemeanors. He also did not say that he will.</p>
  874. <p>In New Jersey’s governor’s election, also to be decided on Tuesday, GOP candidate Jack Ciattarelli got hummus on his face when Ibrar Nadeem, his Muslim relations advisor, told a group called Muslims 4 Jack: “People from my community, when I was blamed that somebody said, ‘You are taking money from Jews.’ I said, ‘I check my bank account every day, brother, it is not there.’”</p>
  875. <p>JTA reports that Ciattarelli told Muslims 4 Jack that Nadeem “hasn’t let me down one day,” and added that he was the “first gubernatorial candidate in history that has a Muslim as part of his inner circle of advisors.”</p>
  876. <p>Democratic U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, his opponent, demanded that Ciattarelli fire Nadeem, saying, “This blatant antisemitism is coming from a member of Jack’s inner circle.”</p>
  877. <p>Those who wallow in Israel-bashing can look forward to more of the same in Democratic Senate primaries in 2026. Unless he self-destructs in the near future, Graham Platner, will challenge Maine Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic primary next June after accusing Israel of “genocide.”</p>
  878. <p>Platner is currently fending off criticism for having a tattoo on his chest depicting a Nazi image, in addition to other issues. He claims he was not aware that the tattoo contained a Nazi symbol.</p>
  879. <p>Rep. Seth Moulton, who represents the Salem-Gloucester region of northeastern Massachusetts, is taking a less abrasive stance on Israel – urging the nation to facilitate aid deliveries in Gaza – as he prepares to take on incumbent Sen. Ed Markey in next year’s Democratic primary.</p>
  880. <p>Back to NYC, Mamdani repeated his pledge of “freedom” for demoralized New Yorkers during a rally over the weekend. Local Jews included? More likely he will chain up Jewish New Yorkers and force them to erect modern-day pyramids.</p>
  881. <p><em>Bruce S. Ticker is a Philadelphia-based columnist. <a href="https://www.sdjewishworld.com/2025/10/28/how-would-candidates-respond-to-teens-attacking-jewish-children/">This article is republished from San Diego Jewish World </a>which, along with The Moderate Voice, is a member of the San Diego Online News Association.</em></p>
  882. <p>Graphic: Dreamstime</p>
  883. <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com/how-would-candidates-respond-to-teens-attacking-jewish-children/">How Would Candidates Respond to Teens Attacking Jewish Children?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://themoderatevoice.com">The Moderate Voice</a>.</p>
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