Blog

Why Do US Media Still Treat ADL as a Credible Source on Antisemitism?

More than a decade ago, a video (Mondoweiss, 8/7/14) showed Jodi Rudoren, then the New York Times‘ Jerusalem bureau chief, having a casual and friendly meeting with Abe Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League. The cozy relationship in the video was telling enough, but when the video captured Foxman complaining that the “Arabs” had taken over a famous New York City hotel, and Rudoren shrugging it off, many skeptics viewed this as a window into the Times’ pro-Israel bias.

The recently deceased Foxman (Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 5/12/26), famous for promoting the pro-Israel viewpoint and insinuating that critics of Israel were antisemitic, wasn’t Rudoren’s source in this video; they were pals.

Emmaia Gelman’s new book, The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State, is a history of the group, framing it not as a racial justice organization but as a deputy sheriff for the US empire. Gelman shows how the ADL crafts a narrative for the public that pushes Western imperialism rather than equality. In recent years, the ADL’s main focus has been smearing criticism of Israel or support for Palestinian human rights as Jew hatred. As the group (4/4/23) says, “anti-Zionism is indeed antisemitism.”

The book is loosely part of the #DropTheADL campaign, which encourages both progressives and schools to stop citing the group as a source on political extremism, because of its “racist and right-wing” track record. The movement has had limited success: The delegates of the nation’s largest teachers union, the National Education Association, voted to sever ties with the ADL, a move that was overruled by the union’s governing board (Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 7/21/25).

Keep reading

Hegseth Threatens: Cuba Seeking Weapons Invites Confrontation

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth traveled to the US military base at Guantanamo Bay and threatened to attack the Cuban government if it acquired weapons that could strike the American military facility or homeland. 

“It would be unwise of the government of Cuba to try to procure or get access to the types of weapons that could reach this base or the American homeland,” Hegseth said on Wednesday. “They would be inviting the kind of confrontation not only do they not want but they could not stand. No country on Earth can match the capabilities of the United States of America.”

The War Secretary’s threat follows a report from Axios last month in which a US official claimed that Havana was attempting to secure weapons that could hit the US. A senior US official speaking with the outlet said that signals intelligence found that Cuba reached out to Russia for additional attack drones and is seeking to replicate Iran’s military strategy. Axios notes that the intelligence leak “could become a pretext for US military action.”

President Donald Trump has eyed regime change in Cuba since returning to office. Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio is a long-time advocate of replacing the government in Havana with one chosen by Washington. 

Trump has attempted to cause economic collapse in Cuba by strengthening sanctions and cutting energy sales to Havana. While the policy has caused more suffering in Cuba, there have been no mass protests against the government. 

Recently, Washington announced that former Cuban leader Raúl Castro had been indicted on murder charges. The White House previously used the indictment against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to justify attacking the country and kidnapping the leader. 

Hegseth told US forces at Guantanamo Bay, “No matter what, the Department of War is going to be prepared and postured for any possible contingency.” 

Keep reading

Inflation rises to 4.2 percent in May, highest level in 3 years

The annual inflation rate increased to its highest point in three years as the cost of energy and other goods rose due to the Iran war, according to data released by the Department of Labor on Wednesday.

The consumer price index (CPI), a popular gauge of inflation, rose 4.2 percent over the past 12 months and 0.5 percent in May alone.

The CPI increase matched the Wall Street consensus and marks the first time that it has surpassed 4 percent since May, 2023, making it the highest rate since April of that year.

Energy prices rose 3.9 percent in May after having risen 3.8 percent in April and 10.9 percent in March, accounting for over 60 percent of the monthly all-items increase.

The Energy Information Administration reported that the average price for gas reached $4.49 in mid-May, compared to $4.09 in mid-April. In June, the national average has so far dropped to $4.15, according to AAA. 

The price of fuel has kept increasing as peace talks between the U.S. and Iran drag out, likely threatened by the latest exchanges, which could threaten an already fragile two-month ceasefire.

The food index also saw an increase of 3.1 percent over the past year, with a 0.2 percent rise in May. All other items saw a nearly 3-percent increase in the last year after also rising by 0.2 percent in May. 

Keep reading

These Are The Six States Celebrating America 250 By Raising Your Gas Tax

The final countdown for America’s 250th birthday is on. Families will be planning road trips, parades, vacations, reunions, and cookouts to celebrate the greatest nation in history. But in six states, politicians have a different idea for the party: raise taxes.

Beginning July 1, drivers in California, Washington, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, and Mississippi are scheduled to see higher state gas taxes. In other words, as the country prepares to celebrate casting aside a tax-heavy king in favor of freedom, these states will use the occasion to fatten government coffers one gallon at a time.

The worst offenders will be no surprise. California, Washington and Illinois  — we’ll call them the Axis of Glut.

Their governors are often the first to fake outrage when gas prices rise. They blame oil companies. They blame “price gouging.” They blame world events. They blame everyone except the politicians who keep piling taxes, mandates, and regulations onto every gallon drivers buy.

Yet these same states already have some of the worst gas prices in the nation, some of the highest gas taxes in America, and now they are getting ready to raise those taxes again.

California’s gas tax is already the highest in the country and is scheduled to climb again on July 1, from 61.2 cents to 63.4 cents per gallon, under the state’s annual inflation adjustment. The same report noted California’s average price for regular gasoline was nearly $6 per gallon in early June.

Illinois is no better. The state says its motor fuel tax will rise on July 1 because the law requires an annual inflation adjustment. Washington joined the club with a gas tax increase last year and then baked in automatic increases going forward. Starting July 1, 2026, the state’s fuel tax rises by 2% every year unless lawmakers change the law.

This is the dirty hustle behind inflation-indexed taxes. Politicians get to raise taxes without holding a press conference to admitting it. They pass the law once, then every year drivers get mugged by a formula.

As of June 8, the national average for regular gas was $4.164, down 38.2 cents in a single month. That is welcome relief for families, workers, small businesses and anyone trying to get through summer. But the national average would look even better if it were not being anchored down by tax-heavy states that treat drivers like a rolling ATM.

The problem is not limited to the six July 1 tax-hike states. Seven of the ten most expensive states for gas are run by Democratic governors. That is not a coincidence.

Taxes play a major role in the high-price reputation of many of these states. So do their regulatory regimes, special fuel rules, anti-energy policies and climate mandates that make fuel harder to produce, refine, transport and sell.

The result is predictable.

Families, small businesses, truckers, and farmers all pay more. Then the same politicians who helped drive up the cost pretend they are shocked by the bill.

That is not compassion. That is government gluttony.

Supporters claim the money goes to roads and infrastructure. But that excuse only goes so far. Every tax increase is sold as necessary. Yet somehow the burden always lands in the same place: on the people who drive to work, school, church, the grocery store or a summer vacation.

That is what makes the timing so perfect, and so insulting.

America’s 250th birthday should be a celebration of freedom, independence and the rejection of government overreach. The American Revolution was born from the idea that people should not be treated as endless revenue sources for rulers who never seem to have enough.

Nearly 250 years later, millions of drivers will pull into gas stations in California, Washington, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, and Mississippi and get a reminder that some politicians still have not learned the lesson.

The country is moving toward a better energy future: lower prices, more production, more reliability and less punishment for the people who keep America moving. But these six states are choosing a different path.

America 250 should remind us why this country was born: because free people eventually get tired of being treated like revenue.

Keep reading

Jasmine Crockett suggests she also would have stabbed Austin Metcalf in stunning defense of Karmelo Anthony

Lame-duck Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) suggested during an unhinged episode podcast that she too would have stabbed track star Austin Metcalf — after Karmelo Anthony was convicted of first-degree murder in the racially charged case.

On Tuesday’s episode of “Clock It with Crockett,” the failed Senate candidate let loose a torrent of falsehoods to paint a picture of the brutal slaying of 17-year-old Metcalf that had virtually no basis in reality.

The cavalcade of inaccuracies started with Crockett downplaying the size of the semi-serrated, 5-inch pocket knife Anthony was convicted of plunging into Metcalf’s chest during a dispute at a track meet at Memorial High School in Frisco, Texas, last April.

“Wait a minute, it was this?” she said, holding her thumb and forefinger about an inch apart to demonstrate the size of the murder weapon.

“Was it a switch? I don’t know what he had,” Crockett said, inadvertently telegraphing her flimsy grasp of the facts of the case that has roiled her home state for more than a year.

One of her guests claimed the knife was “a multi-tool” akin to a Swiss army knife.

“Yeah, like with the little scissors and everything and whatever. So it was small,” Crockett said, furrowing her brow and squinting her eyes in disbelief.

“Well, I would argue the size of it alone, you wouldn’t even think it’s a deadly weapon.”

Keep reading

Anti-Marijuana Ballot Campaigns In Maine And Massachusetts Accused Of ‘Fraudulent’ And ‘Misleading’ Petitioning Tactics

Campaigns that are working to put measures to roll back marijuana legalization on the ballot in two states are facing accusations of “fraudulent” and “misleading” signature gathering tactics—and not for the first time.

Now, however, new social media posts from both states appear to show signature collectors for each measure arguing that people who support legal cannabis access should sign the petitions in order to advance or protect marijuana reform.

A video posted to Reddit of a signature gatherer for the Massachusetts proposal—which would repeal state laws allowing the regulated commercial sales of recreational marijuana while maintaining legal possession and continuing the medical cannabis system—shows the man collecting signatures outside a supermarket next to a sign that says “keep cannabis legal.”

When confronted by a marijuana reform supporter who recorded the petitioner’s interactions with voters, he appeared to be trying to convince them that it is important to qualify the anti-cannabis measure for the ballot in order to then defeat it.

“This is what we’re fighting against right here. That’s why we vote no,” he said. “If we can get this to the ballot right here, we vote no.”

The person who captured the video pointed out that Massachusetts voters already approved marijuana legalization years ago, and that the only way it could be imminently repealed is if the new ballot measure qualified for the November election. If the initiative does not get enough signatures to go before voters, the state’s laws will remain the same.

“It’s my job,” the petitioner insisted, however. “I know what I’m talking about.”

“It’s a group of rich folks from out of state that want to basically take marijuana to when it was a medical marijuana card,” he said. “We don’t want that to happen.”

Keep reading

‘The Cause Is Doomed’: New Anti-EU Bulgarian Government Stops Sending Military Aid to Ukraine

Radev is not toeing the Brussels’ line.

The new Bulgarian government that was sworn in on 8 May 2026 under Prime Minister Rumen Radev is already showing it means business.

Radev’s ‘Progressive Bulgaria’ party won a landslide victory in April with 45 % of the vote and 135 seats in the 240-seat parliament – the first majority government in Bulgaria since 1997.

The government is Pro-EU membership but markedly pro-Russian and Euroskeptic in terms of foreign policy, defending national sovereignty.

So, there you have it: a NATO and EU country bucking Brussels’ war dogma.

Radev has long opposed sanctions on Russia and military aid to Ukraine, and with one month in office, his government has already stopped sending weapons to Ukraine.

This was announced today (9) by the country’s Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov.

Politico reported:

“The move cements the new Bulgarian government’s opposition to EU support for Ukraine after Russia-aligned Prime Minister Rumen Radev won a parliamentary election in a landslide in April. Bulgaria has sent 13 aid packages to Kyiv since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion, but Radev has described the Ukrainian cause as ‘doomed’.

‘We have already made it clear that the war in Ukraine will not be resolved on the battlefield. We are witnessing a war of attrition, and no matter how much weaponry is amassed, the only result is the loss of human lives. It is time to sit down at the negotiating table’, Stoyanov said at a press conference on Tuesday.”

Keep reading

Tensions Boil Over Outside Courthouse After Karmelo Anthony Found Guilty of Murder – Deputies Make Arrests

Tensions boiled over outside the Collin County Courthouse after a jury convicted Karmelo Anthony of murder in the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf.

The jury in the Karmelo Anthony murder case reached a swift verdict after deliberating for more than two hours on Tuesday.

The jury found Karmelo Anthony guilty of murder. He faces life in prison.

Karmelo Anthony and his mother sobbed in court after the judge read the guilty verdict.

The jury still hasn’t decided on Karmelo Anthony’s sentencing.

Black Panthers gathered outside the courthouse and defended Karmelo Anthony.

“We got to tell our kids the truth that this is a racist ass country! We gotta tell them the truth,” one of the Black Panthers shouted.

“Don’t nobody want to hear about what we do to each other. We talking about what they doing to US!” she said.

“White folks kill white folks. Mexicans kill Mexicans. We ain’t trying to hear no cool sh*t today. Go open up them white folks with that. This is a racist-ass country!” she added.

Deputies made swift arrests as protestors clashed.

Keep reading

UK Plans To JAIL Tech CEOs Who Refuse To SPY On Every Phone

New measures would compel client-side inspection of every photo, video and message on devices, escalating the digital ID lockdown already plotted for British smartphones in coordination with major technology firms.

Privacy advocates warn the “child safety” framing masks a broader drive to turn personal phones into mandatory surveillance endpoints, with criminal penalties aimed at any executive who resists.

Reclaim The Net, an organization dedicated to countering online censorship and digital surveillance, flagged the draft legislation in recent updates. 

The group described how UK authorities are preparing to imprison tech executives for up to five years under the Online Safety Act if companies refuse to build and deploy scanners capable of reviewing every piece of content on user devices.

The push targets expanded “client-side scanning” features, requiring devices to inspect material before it is sent or received.

Existing tools from Apple and Google, such as nudity detection in Messages or sensitive content warnings, would be broadened into comprehensive, always-active systems. Non-compliance would trigger direct penalties against company leadership rather than the firms alone.

Keep reading