The economy is one of the biggest issues this election cycle. In past elections where the economy has featured prominently, the biggest concerns are usually jobs or unemployment or fear of a recession. This year, and for the first time in generations, inflation is the big concern.

The most recent inflation reading of the consumer price index, the most closely watched inflation gauge, showed that inflation fell slightly to 3.4% for the year ending in April. While the data showed a decline, that number is still well above the 2% level that the Federal Reserve considers healthy.

The small downtick also follows months of increases. Late last year, inflation began falling quickly, leading consumers to believe the price-growth plague was coming to an end and the Fed would begin cutting interest rates. But those expectations have faded greatly as inflation readings in 2024 continue to disappoint.

A day before the CPI data were released, the producer price index, which gauges wholesale inflation, rose slightly once again, the third straight monthly increase.

Republicans are squarely blaming Biden for the high inflation and, in turn, the higher interest rates. They contend that a rash of federal spending under Biden artificially juiced demand and caused prices to rise, an attack they have used and will continue to use on the campaign trail.

“This report confirms that the grip of inflation won’t loosen anytime soon, even after 11 interest rate increases since March 2022,” House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) said after the latest CPI report. “The massive amount of federal spending by President Biden and Democrats has made this inflationary firestorm difficult to contain.”

Perhaps even more crucially for Biden is how the hotter numbers are shifting inflation expectations and consumer sentiment, which is how voters feel about the economy.

The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index plunged to 67.4 in May, down from nearly 77.4 in April, according to early numbers for the month. That marks a nearly 13% decline over just the past month alone and shows consumers are souring on the economy and their perceived economic conditions.

“This 10 index-point decline is statistically significant and brings sentiment to its lowest reading in about six months,” survey director Joanne Hsu said. “This month’s trend in sentiment is characterized by a broad consensus across consumers, with decreases across age, income, and education groups.”

Year-ahead inflation expectations also rose, as did long-run inflation expectations, another troubling metric for the Biden campaign.

An April Bloomberg News-Morning Consult poll found that a mere 18% of registered voters predict that inflation will improve by the end of the year, while 75% said they think it will either stay the same or actually get worse. Further, 70% say the overall U.S. economy is going on the wrong track.

Additionally, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell to 97 in April, down from a revised 103.1 the month before. That marks the lowest consumer confidence reading in 22 months.

The expectations index, which tracks the short-term outlook of consumers for business, income, and labor market conditions, fell to 66.4 this month from 74 in March. An expectations index reading below 80 often signals a forthcoming recession, according to the Conference Board, more alarm bells for Biden.

“Confidence retreated further in April, reaching its lowest level since July 2022 as consumers became less positive about the current labor market situation and more concerned about future business conditions, job availability, and income,” Dana Peterson, chief economist at the Conference Board, said.

Dan North, a senior economist with Allianz Trade Americas, told the Washington Examiner after the release of the most recent CPI report that while it ticked down by a tenth of a percentage point, inflation has remained in a narrow band between 3% and 3.7% for nearly a year now, more than a full percentage point over what the Fed considers healthy.

The Fed has raised its interest rate target from 5.25% to 5.50%, the highest since the dot-com bubble at the turn of the century. The biggest question now is when the Fed will start cutting rates, although recent hotter-than-anticipated inflation reports have increased the odds of fewer cuts in 2024. Most investors expect the first rate cut to come in September.

North said the latest report doesn’t do much to move the needle toward quicker interest rate cuts.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“It’s not enough to move the Fed by any means off of, in our opinions, September. It’s a good thing it’s not a surprise to the upside, which we’ve had too much of, but we’re still a long, long way from 2%,” North said.

If inflation readings keep showing little progress toward moving inflation down to the Fed’s goal, it could also push back the first rate cut until after the November elections, something that would further hurt Biden. Higher rates make things like buying a home or taking out a loan much more expensive for voters.

Generation Z has shocked their elders. The campus protests that have swept the country reflect deep-seated anti-Israel sentiment — and worse. 

In December, a Harvard/Harris poll found that 67% of 18-24-year-olds agreed “Jews as a class are oppressors and should be treated as oppressors.” By contrast, 27% of all adults agreed. 

This has manifested in young people chanting “Intifada revolution” and “From the River to the Sea,” even if they can’t identify the river or sea. 

This disturbing trend of anti-Jewish attitudes, sometimes but not always masked as anti-Zionism, makes it clear that campus indoctrination isn’t the whole story. Rabbi Daniel Levitt, who spent 15 years as a campus Hillel professional, posted, “They’re radicalized before they get to campus.”

A litigator and strategic consultant whose national practice specializes in representing private school parents argued that campus activists “show up having already tested the waters with their K-12 administrators.” These students “know they can make false statements, be threatening, aggressive, and vocally vicious all without penalty, so long as they are taking a stand that fits within the administration’s progressive narrative around race and oppression.” And antisemitic campus protests certainly do.

In the three months following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the Anti-Defamation League tallied 256 reported antisemitic incidents in K-12 schools nationwide. The Washington Examiner spoke to more than 40 people about their own recent experiences in public and independent schools. From a parent who resigned from the Democratic Socialists of America over its response to Oct. 7 to Donald Trump supporters, they spoke of progressive ideology that often ignored antisemitism or even fanned the flames.

Adherents of this ideology prefer it remain unnamed, but it is variously called diversity, equity, and inclusion, critical race theory, critical social justice, anti-racism, and wokeness. It dominates schools and will shape the country’s future.

Consider one high-profile example. Montgomery County Public Schools has been highly ranked and serves a sizable Jewish population relative to the national average. While Jews are approximately 2% of all Americans, “Montgomery County is about 10% Jewish,” according to Meredith Weisel, regional director of ADL Washington, D.C. MCPS is now also the subject of a federal Title VI investigation based on allegations of antisemitism.

The school system has repeatedly made headlines for reported antisemitism. Still, it’s difficult to track the frequency of such incidents. 

Andrew Winter, an elementary school principal and the founder of the Montgomery County Jewish Educators Alliance, said, “MCPS tracks reported incidents of hate bias.” Winter does “not believe” the findings are published. However, “I know this year from the start of the school year until Oct. 7 — that weekend — the number was 19 incidents. Since Oct. 7, there’s been over 60 more incidents that have been reported,” Winter shared in mid-January.

Moderately MOCO, a local news outlet, analyzed “hate and bias incidents” for July 2022 to October 2023. Eighty-one incidents, or 61% of reports from all schools, targeted Jews.

When MCPS put four educators on leave for antisemitic social media posts and a “River to the Sea” email signature last fall, Jewish parents hoped the school system would stand strong against antisemitism. However, three of those four teachers have already been reinstated at different schools.

Nicole Neily, president of Parents Defending Education, said her organization filed a Maryland Public Information Act request last October, seeking “three weeks of emails from the Board of Education [and superintendent]” mentioning Israel, Hamas, and related terms. In a response letter Neily shared, MCPS said fulfilling that request would cost $8,492.08, a price seemingly intended “to dissuade people from asking.” By February’s end, Neily said, MCPS had released only external documents.

Parents have encountered other barriers. Nicole Kashtan, the mother of two MCPS students and a member of the Montgomery County Jewish Parents Coalition, recalled meeting with an MCPS administrator about the district’s anti-racist audit: “We said to him a number of times we’re concerned about this potentially promoting progressive social justice antisemitism. He really rebuffed that. … [He] refused to include antisemitism as part of the audit and refused to push MCPS to do a separate, parallel audit specifically on antisemitism. That was problematic, because even in 2021 and into 2022, antisemitism was already high among young people.” Antisemitism certainly feels widespread to parents. A middle and elementary school parent said, “The incidents have increased tremendously since Oct. 7. They were already on the rise, but after Oct. 7 every single Jewish kid I know had something.”

Even early grades aren’t immune. Marci Serfaty, a teacher at Bayard Rustin Elementary School, described teaching kindergarteners a Hanukkah lesson last December and taking questions at the end: “One child raised his hand and said, ‘My father said that Jewish people are the bad guys, and they’re killing everybody.’ Then a second child said, ‘the Jews are going to hell.’ My school administrators took it very seriously. They contacted the families to meet with them about the incident and included the school counselor. … I was assured that this type of behavior would not be tolerated.”

Margery Smelkinson, an MCPS parent who co-leads the Maryland Jewish Alliance, a Facebook group for parents concerned about antisemitism, said MCPS administrators “rarely talk about Jews, do not appear to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month, or even discuss antisemitism.” Smelkinson added, “Even before Oct. 7, there were lots of swastikas and derogatory comments. If there were email communications from administrators to the community about it, they would say, ‘We don’t support hate speech,’ but in the end, no one was ever punished.” Beyond that, “there’s a lot of online bullying, but some schools claim they are at a loss for what to do with that.”

The allegations aren’t just online behavior. Melissa Stein, a parent and former teacher in the system as well as board member of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs, a parent stakeholder group that works directly with MCPS’s board and leadership, described a January middle school incident featuring such taunts as “of course a Jew is telling me how it is” and telling a non-Israeli Jewish boy “to ‘go back to Israel.’” The incident continued until there were “three mentions of Hitler.” Only then, “the teacher intervened.”

“I was an MCPS elementary teacher until January a year ago,” Stein recalled. “During our professional week, a day in August 2022, every teacher spent half or two-thirds of a day doing anti-racist training, because the county invested in an anti-racist audit. They taught everything you do is either racist or anti-racist. We were taught by MCPS as teachers to accept that as fact.” There was no antisemitism training.

One parent told the Washington Examiner about their children being asked by a cafeteria worker if they “liked Palestine” when receiving kosher meals. Another described a Nazi salute directed at her son during the national anthem. 

High school supercharges the hostility. Rachel Barold was a freshman in December 2022 when her high school was graffitied with “Jews not welcome.” In response, she organized a 600-student walkout. The Washington Post then reported that two debate team members “allegedly joked about using challah to lure Jewish people to the secluded Andaman Islands and burning them at the stake.” Barold was the second name listed, she said. 

Barold gave her principal high marks for addressing antisemitism. Unfortunately, there’s been “a lot of antisemitism” there since Oct. 7. “It’s almost cool to hate Jews, to be anti-Israel. It’s very hip. A lot of students take it that if you want to be a Democrat, you can’t support Israel. They get that from social media [and] various politicians.” And since the curriculum isn’t focused on teaching about Jews, Israel, or antisemitism, misinformation frequently remains uncontested. 

“Most kids are on TikTok 1-4 hours a day,” Barold said. It’s important that students “get facts before they hear something wrong on the internet.” Indeed, a recent study found “spending at least 30 minutes a day on TikTok increases the chances a respondent holds antisemitic or anti-Israel views by 17% (compared with 6% for Instagram and 2% for X).”

County school officials did not respond to a request for comment.

But it’s a trend seen all over the country. “We had a speaker compare Jews to Nazis in the ninth grade,” said Dr. Logan Levkoff, an independent school parent in New York who’s had two very different school experiences. “My son was called an ethnic cleanser by a student. He had one-sided speakers — plural — blaming only Jews in Israel for what’s happened between Israel and the Palestinians. They had two speakers from J Street, who were supposed to be thoughtful but focused only on one side. When my son said, ‘Hey, there seems to be part of the story missing,’ the conversation was shut down. He had teachers who told students that Soviet anti-Zionism was a legitimate political movement and had nothing to do with antisemitism.”

A common thread is an ideology that divides the world into two distinct groups: oppressors and the oppressed. “The first thing is the oppressor versus oppressed binary that all of these other things are built upon,” said Dr. Brandy Shufutinsky, director of education and community engagement with the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values. “What’s in that framework is the belief in an anti-capitalist idea that is a tentacle of white supremacy. It feeds the old and long-lasting trope against Jews as the ultimate bad actor capitalists, which comes from neo-Marxism … if we’re in a school critiquing white supremacy that believes that the ‘ultimate white’ is Jews, and Israel gets that overlaid, Israel is the ultimate ‘white supremacist’ state.”  

Paul Rossi is a ninth grade math teacher in the Bronx, former teacher at Manhattan’s Grace Church School, and leader of Terra Firma Teaching Alliance, a networking and support group for traditional teachers. “Everything is relational,” he said. “Any antisemitism from the Right, [the school] will say, ‘This is wrong. It’s terrible. We need to fight this.’ But when it’s intersectionally inconvenient like Oct. 7, or self-defense on the part of Israel, the Jewish identity falls in the wrong bucket. You’re on the side of colonialism and Western exploitation. It’s a deeply uncomfortable thing.”

That discomfort can be widely felt, as this worldview “creates division where there doesn’t need to be any. When you start putting the focus on the differences, children don’t learn to see the commonalities,” said Kate Hudson, founder of Education Veritas, a nonprofit organization that educates the public about goings-on in public and nonpublic education from kindergarten through college.

This ideology brooks no dissent. “It’s an orthodoxy. This is why it looks, feels, and smells like a cult. You can’t question,” Shufutinsky said.

Indoctrination also starts early. “This starts in pre-K. As soon as they get into school, they are slowly cajoled into this way of thinking,” Rossi said. “Jewish students are lumped into white people. That trumps anything, any type of ethnicity or religion they have, so inclusion goes out the window on those kinds of things. … What matters is your proximity to whiteness. Whiteness is the big evil.” This is a central article of faith.

David Bernstein, founder of the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values and the author of Woke Antisemitism: How a Progressive Ideology Harms Jews, explained, “Only people with lived experience of oppression are permitted to, and have the standing to, define oppression for the rest of society.” This typically excludes Jews. “Historic discrimination against Jews is whitewashed or minimized or otherwise disregarded in favor of modern marginalized groups,” civil injury lawyer David Pivtorak said. 

“If you want to believe oppressed people can never succeed, you have to explain the Jews. … The whole narrative falls apart with the Jews. They’re ‘white supremacists,’ or benefit from ‘white supremacy culture,’ so they become a scapegoat because they undermine the core narrative of wokeism,” observed Andrew Gutmann, the father who wrote the viral Brearley letter as a New York City independent school parent, has since dug into these ideas, and is now running for Congress in Florida. “The progressive ideology that has infused K-12 education — you can’t separate that from the antisemitism,” but antisemitism is “not the driving force.”

Shufutinsky offered another view: “I don’t want to minimize that here in the United States the overall target is the West. But since Oct. 7, it feels like [Jews] are the target. That’s why we’re now seeing protesters in the streets of New York chanting, ‘There is only one solution, communist revolution. Intifada, intifada.’” 

“DEI efforts are designed to combat the effects of social prejudice by insisting on equity: Some people in our society have too much power and too much privilege, and are overrepresented, so justice requires leveling the playing field,” Dara Horn wrote in the Atlantic. “But antisemitism isn’t primarily a social prejudice. It is a conspiracy theory: the big lie that Jews are supervillains manipulating others. The righteous fight for justice therefore does not require protecting Jews as a vulnerable minority. Instead it requires taking Jews down.” 

Roz Rothstein, co-founder and CEO of StandWithUs, an international nonpartisan education organization that supports Israel and fights antisemitism, said StandWithUs has noted an increase in these views: “We are addressing numerous instances of biased or one-sided materials used in classrooms across the country about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and current events. Our student leaders are being bullied online and in person for having a connection to Israel. There are also instances of physical threats and violence against Jewish students.” For American Jews, “normal” is being redefined.

Parents report that DEI has flooded independent schools. Gutmann observed, “This ideology has been entrenched in the K-12 pedagogical ecosystem, in the teachers’ education, [and] in the professional development teachers have been doing for a very long time.” 

Lessons can apply to parents, too. Recalling his experience three school years ago, Gutmann said, “We had to do mandatory anti-racist training. [Brearley] made us do it, so we saw it firsthand. They tried to force us to sign a pledge that not only would we support anti-racism initiatives at school, but also in our home. We refused.” 

A school spokesperson emailed, “Each year at Brearley, we require one parent from each family to attend curriculum night, parent/teacher conferences, and a learning session designed to engage them as members of our diverse community. This year’s choices for that session have included talks on antisemitism, Islamophobia as well as new parents getting to know one another. We do not ask parents to sign a pledge.”

Accreditation is another vector. Gutmann noted, “Technically the regional accreditors accredit schools, but NAIS [National Association of Independent Schools] accredits the regional accreditors, so they can mandate schools have to do DEI.” 

DEI also informs NAIS’s national conferences. Numerous interviewees expressed concerns about the annual Student Diversity Leadership Conference. The last SDLC brought approximately 2,000 independent school students to St. Louis in December.

“The NAIS is pushing activism with these students,” Hudson said. “That’s part of the indoctrination they get at these conferences. These schools pay exorbitant fees for students and teachers to attend. … According to some who have attended, they have to sign an NDA when they go. They aren’t allowed to relay information from it. It’s oddly secretive.”

At the last conference, a student delivered extemporaneous remarks about the “genocide” in Gaza. He was applauded enthusiastically by the audience, but one Jewish mother described her daughter’s traumatized reaction to being one of 20-30 Jewish students in a large crowd cheering antisemitism. Other adults reported similar anxiety and a desire to leave early from other Jewish attendees they knew.

An NAIS spokesperson described the SDLC as a conference that “helps students develop cross-cultural communication skills and learn the foundations of allyship and networking. … The conference aims to help students navigate complex and often challenging conversations respectfully. Students are invited to share their perspectives in various settings during the conference. The remarks in question came from a student commenter. Some students were deeply offended by the comments. These students reached out to SDLC faculty members, who worked to support them and to facilitate discussions. As an organization, NAIS condemns antisemitism in all forms, and our work — at SDLC and more broadly — strives to embrace diversity and champion inclusivity. These values continue to guide everything we do.”

For an era whose byword is “inclusivity,” this school year’s seen a lot of exclusion, from college campuses to K-12 schools. It doesn’t help that so many educational leaders not only seem unclear about what antisemitism is, but also seem disinterested in leading on it.

Some interviewees would be content if their schools’ DEI staff started including Jewish children and content. However, save for the rare exception, DEI staff hasn’t reciprocated that interest.

DEI creates problems for both the included and excluded. Dr. Staci Weiner, clinical psychologist and owner of Apple Psychological, a group private practice in New York and Florida, observed, “If you’re saying you’re born ‘oppressed,’ then you might believe you have no chance to be successful. In other words, ‘You might as well give up now, because you were born into this life and your actions cannot help you define who you are as a person.’” Meanwhile, “if you’re ‘the oppressor,’ and you’re convinced of that, you might feel you have to apologize or feel ashamed for something you haven’t done. We are creating roles, oppressed [and] oppressor, and pigeonholing people before kids are even figuring out who they are or want to be.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“That’s psychologically harmful too,” Weiner said. “I worry about kids feeling disempowered. The narrative that we tell ourselves is who we inherently become. Our self-talk is extremely important in shaping the decisions we make and the path we take toward the future.”

The harm to Jewish students has been very visible this school year, but it will ripple throughout a whole generation. Without a change, the American future will not only be balkanized but could look like the explosive anti-Western, antisemitic fall of 2023. What are we, as a country, going to do about it?

Melissa Langsam Braunstein (@slowhoneybee) is an independent writer in metropolitan Washington.

The Washington Examiner spoke to Lake, a staunch opponent of illegal immigration, on Wednesday while she was in transit to the southern border. The 54-year-old former TV news anchor and 2022 gubernatorial candidate said she wants bigger federal benefits for those who choose to have children.

“Right now, we have unsustainable U.S. birth rates, and that is going to destabilize our future growth,” Lake said. “We’ve got to bring our birth rates up, and I think that we need to incentivize and make it easier for people to have families.”

The U.S. total fertility rate was sitting at an average of 2.1 births per woman in 2007, but has fallen to 1.7 births per woman in 2021, according to the latest data. The replacement rate is 2.1.

Lake evoked European countries and said the “turmoil” is an example of “what happens when you don’t have babies of your own, and you have a wholesale import of a new population.”

Lake said that she doesn’t have a specific degree of increase in mind for child tax credit, but said it needs to be closely examined and expanded to a level where it is effective at incentivizing family growth and raising the birth rate.

“Our birth rate is declining at such a rapid rate that we’re going to be in big trouble,” she said.

The child tax credit, which has been revised by Congress multiple times in recent years, currently stands at $2,000 for minors. That is the level it was set at by the 2017 Republican tax overhaul.

The child tax credit was temporarily increased as part of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 relief legislation. The law raised it to $3,600 for children under 6 and $3,000 for older children, with perhaps the biggest change being the removal of an income threshold for those who receive the funds. Thus, a family with no income or head of household working would also receive the full $3,600 or $3,000 payments. The boosted tax credit sunset at the end of 2021.

Republicans largely opposed the temporary pandemic-era expansion because of the lack of work requirements.

More generally, Republicans are divided on family benefits. Some favor lowering tax rates rather than increasing credits. Others, such as Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, have backed much larger benefits for parents.

Lake is the expected Republican nominee for Senate in the state. She is set to face Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) in what is billed as tossup election, one which could decide control of the Senate. Gallego also supports a bigger child tax credit.

Experts debate how big government subsidies need to be in order to raise the birth rate. For instance, Hungary has massive benefits for motherhood, including upfront loans of $36,000 that get written off if parents have at least three children, but it is unclear just how well the policies have worked.

Lake warned that it is crucial for Republicans to gain control of the Senate and White House because “if we don’t win, we will watch the biggest tax increase foisted upon” Americans and small businesses. Lake argued that the 2017 tax cuts resulted in higher federal revenue by turbocharging economic expansion.

“Lower taxes increase economic growth,” Lake said. She also tied better economic conditions to the birth rate.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“When President Trump gets back in and bring back brings back that roaring Trump economy, I think we’ll quickly see people wanting to be able to start families get married,” Lake said.

The Arizona Republican primary is on July 30.

Morehouse College President David A. Thomas said he is prepared to “cease the ceremonies on the spot” if protests are too disruptive to Biden’s speech. He said he would rather halt the ceremony than bring in a police force. 

“What we won’t allow is disruptive behavior that prevents the ceremony or services from proceeding in a manner that those in attendance can partake and enjoy,” Thomas told CNN.

“So, for example, prolonged shouting down of the president as he speaks,” he continued. “I have also made a decision that we will also not ask police to take individuals out of commencement in zip ties. If faced with the choice, I will cease the ceremonies on the spot if we were to reach that position.”

Thomas said he will not allow hate speech of any kind. 

“I would rather be the first president to have a failed commencement than to say you are less important than the ceremonies of this institution,” Thomas said. “I thought about it from the vantage point of how should Morehouse show up as an institution. And we should never put the ego of the institution above our values. And one of our values is to see the humanity in all.” 

During a Thursday press briefing, White House Office of Public Engagement Director Steve Benjamin, who met with Morehouse College students last week to discuss concerns regarding the president’s speech, to reiterate Biden’s support of free speech and the right to protest.

“The right to free speech extends, even those who protest,” Benjamin said. “As long as they’re peaceful protests, as long as they don’t disrupt the amazing moment it is for the graduates, we’ll consider it a success.”

Benjamin visited Morehouse last week to assure students Biden’s speech would not be campaign-related and would instead focus on the accomplishments and futures of the graduates.

Thomas said those who would like to participate in “silent protest” are welcome to do so. 

“Silent protests. You want to walk across the stage in a piece of garment that identifies your moral connection to either side of this conflict because we also have Jewish students here, you can do that,” Thomas said.

He said he would allow people to turn their chairs to Biden’s back while speaking, which could embarrass the president.

“As long as you don’t conduct yourselves in a way that deprives others from being able to participate, consume, and celebrate this moment,” Thomas said.

Then-President Barack Obama gave the Morehouse College commencement speech in 2013. Biden is set to be awarded an honorary degree. Thomas said Biden’s years of public service, including 36 years in the Senate and eight as vice president, make him deserving.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“We need someplace in this country that can hold the tensions that threaten to divide us,” Thomas said. “We look around some of the most venerable institutions of higher education have canceled commencement, canceled valedictorian speakers because of their having spoken out and exercised their rights to free speech.”

The White House did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment on Thomas’s statements. 

“We have blackouts in Kyiv, so I’m sitting in the darkness right now,” Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Merezhko, who chairs the foreign affairs committee, told the Washington Examiner. “Winter hasn’t started here, but we’re already having these blackouts. And it doesn’t bode well for the coming winter.”

Russia has targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure since 2022, when the initial failure of the invading Russian columns forced Russian strategists to seek new ways to enervate the Ukrainian defense. An influx of Western air defense systems enabled Ukrainian forces to mitigate that threat, but delivery delays in the United States and Europe left Ukraine’s power grid vulnerable to several severe shocks.

“Russia, they have this plan — they have a plan to destroy us, economically, and they specifically target, now, our infrastructure, especially power grid,” Merezhko said. “They want to create humanitarian catastrophe during the winter, or even before the winter. And so they bet on trying to bomb us into the caves, as they say.”

That effort has found some success in recent months, as Ukrainian energy authorities acknowledged while announcing the latest blackout schedule.

“The reason for the restrictions is the increase in electricity consumption during cold weather,” Ukraine’s state-owned energy company announced, according to an unofficial translation. “The capacity of Ukrainian power plants is not enough due to the consequences of five rocket-drone attacks carried out by Russia on the Ukrainian energy system since March 22.”

President Joe Biden received the authority to provide additional military assistance to Ukraine in April when House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) advanced a supplemental funding package over the objections of a hard-right faction of the Republican conference. That maneuver ended a protracted lapse in major shipments of U.S. aid long after Ukrainian forces began to feel the effects of a shortage of artillery and air defense interceptors.

“It’s [because of] all of us,” a senior European official said. “The Patriots are the most capable ones, which are able to take ballistic missiles down. So, if [Ukraine] is running out of them, they can take down cruise missiles, but ballistics and Kinzhals will hit the target and do the damage.”

The shortages are being felt most acutely in the area around Kharkiv, a major Ukrainian city near the country’s northeastern border. The scene of a major battle in the first months of the full-scale conflict, Russian forces have pressed into the area in an effort that private U.S. analysts suggest is intended to create a buffer zone on the border. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that the defending forces have “partially stabilized” the lines in the area, but NATO’s top general demurred when asked about the status of the Russian offensive.

“Whether an offensive is stopped or not, you know, takes a little bit of time to figure out … In war, you never count things out until you’re sure,” four-star U.S. Army Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, the NATO supreme allied commander, said Thursday at a press conference in Brussels. 

“[Ukrainian forces are] being shipped vast amounts of ammunition, vast amounts of short-range air defense systems, and significant amounts of armored vehicles right now,” Cavoli said.

Zelensky suggested this week that “Russia will not be able to occupy Kharkiv” if Ukrainian forces are given “two Patriot systems,” but those missile batteries are in short supply in U.S. arsenals, and the other countries that own them tend to hesitate to hand over the prized system.

“There is a lot of discussion ongoing on…creative solutions, in terms that nations trying now to work together to find a complete system,” Dutch Adm. Rob Bauer, the chairman of the NATO military committee, told reporters on Thursday. “So if one [country] has the sensor, and another one has the shooter, and the third one has the ammunition, that together they make something they come up with a solution for Ukraine.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced in April that he would send German-owned Patriot battery to Ukraine. That battery, the third of its kind sent from German arsenals, “is extremely important for the defense of Ukraine,” Bauer said before adding an arch remark about the lag between announcement and delivery.

“It is important, though … that nations not only promise to deliver certain things, but that they also announce for Ukraine … within how much time they actually are going to be able to deliver it,” he said. “So it’s not just the promise, but, it is also in the end, of course, the ammunition and the systems that the Ukrainians need. So, I think that is something that has to improve.”

Those improvements could come too late for at least some aspects of Ukraine’s power grid. DTEK, a private operator of thermal power plants, announced in March that the company had “temporarily lost around half its available generation capacity.” In recent weeks, a representative of DTEK’s parent company told an American audience that “probably 80[%] to 85% of their capacity was offline,” a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine told the Washington Examiner. 

“This is gonna be big, and he said they’re really preparing, trying to get through to the winter,” retired Ambassador Bill Taylor, who led the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv on two different diplomatic tours, said. “And the parts are harder to come by because they’re long lead-time items. A lot of the equipment is old Soviet [stuff]. The Russians know all the details of their grid. Yeah, I think energy is gonna be a problem.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

To mitigate the damage, DTEK is “investing heavily in distributed power systems such as wind turbines,” the company announced in March amid a wider government effort to make the Ukrainian power grid more resilient.

“They’re trying to find creative ways to have more protected [power sources] — maybe underground, maybe dispersed,” Merezhko said. “And this is [part of] the kind of competition or rivalry, in terms of creativity, and we managed to outsmart Russians. So far, at least, it’s been the case.”

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) cut to the chase on day one of the hearing when he addressed Martin Gruenberg. “You’ve failed your employees, your agency, and the American people,” he said. “The FDIC must be held to the same standards of conduct it imposes on the entities it regulates. The agency’s culture must be overhauled.”

On Thursday, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) echoed McHenry’s criticism of how Gruenberg has conducted his job since 2005 as a leader on the FDIC Board of Directors: “Marty, you’ve heard me say this directly — you should resign.”

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) set the tone early by expressing Congress’s disgust with the 234-page report. “It makes clear under both Republican and Democratic chairs that the FDIC has not done its job properly,” Waters said.

On page 5 of the report, shocking accounts from employees include a supervisor talking about a woman’s legs and other body parts on a regular basis, along with his sex life. Another woman shared how she received a photo of an FDIC supervisor’s private parts. Other employees reported “how demoralizing” it was to be told by colleagues they were “only hired” as a result of being a “token” to fill a quota. Complaints of homophobic statements, such as referring to gay men as “little girls,” were also included.

Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) was infuriated with the “disturbing” findings, including “hundreds of instances of gender discrimination, unsolicited sexual advances, harassment and assault and even difficulty being promoted after having children.”

“Let me repeat: Individuals within a United States agency denied opportunities to women because they chose to have a family,” Britt said.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) questioned Gruenberg on why the government corporation allowed JP Morgan to purchase First Republic Bank instead of other regional banks. Vance revealed billions of dollars in miscalculations by the FDIC and said as a result of the toxic culture, employees are afraid to provide critical information.

“I worry the culture you created at the FDIC has people terrified to answer honestly,” Vance said. “If they’re not answering honestly, it’s impossible for us to do our job of overseeing what you guys do in the financial sector.” 

While Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is concerned, she isn’t calling for Gruenberg’s resignation. The Massachusetts senator said merely replacing Gruenberg with Vice Chairman Travis Hill, a Republican, would be a “purely political” move for the Right.

“Your resignation would do nothing for the toxic culture at the FDIC, but it would give Republicans a veto over bank policy,” Warren said. “Culture starts at the top, and it’s your responsibility to fix this.” 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Warren asked Gruenberg if he would commit to implementing all of the provided recommendations, to which he agreed. Warren said, “We will be watching you to make sure you keep your word on this.”

There were several references made to there being additional future hearings.

The decision was issued Thursday by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, and will ban leasing on more than 13 million public acres in the Powder River Basin, which spans Wyoming and Montana and accounts for nearly 50% of all U.S. coal production.

The news sparked fierce and immediate backlash from Republicans and mining groups in the Western states, which accused the Biden administration of waging war on coal producers in the region. It’s not clear, though, to what extent coal production — which has fallen by half in the last two decades — will be affected.

A federal court in 2022 upheld the BLM’s complaint that two public lands management plans drafted under then-President Donald Trump had failed to properly account for climate change or environmental harm caused by coal mining, and tasked them with creating a new Environmental Impact Statement for coal mining in the region.

In its final assessment Thursday, BLM said that continuing to lease federal acres for coal mining in the Powder River Basin would cause “significant harm” to public health and the climate. The new directive allows for current mining leases in the Powder River Basin to be preserved, which BLM estimates will allow for continued coal mining through 2040 in Wyoming and through 2060 at one mine in Montana.

In total, the decision stands to affect 14 total coal mines in the Powder River Basin, which produced a combined 260 million short tons of coal in 2022, or 44% of total U.S. production, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. 

Coal emissions in the U.S. have dropped 57% compared to their peak in 2005, according to the EIA. And the coal mines in the Powder River Basin are also producing less, yielding approximately 220 million short tons of federal coal in 2022, or roughly half of the amount produced in 2008.

Wyoming’s fully Republican congressional delegation — Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis and Rep. Harriet Hageman — argued in a joint press release Thursday that the move will hurt their economy and fails to account for the importance of coal-fired power generation in the power mix. Twelve coal mines in Wyoming stand to be affected by the decision.

“I am horrified to see the Biden administration’s latest assault on our nation’s domestic energy production,” Lummis said. “This RMP will push our country to rely on foreign adversaries for energy needs at a time when our grid is pushed to the brim and Wyoming coal is needed now more than ever to power our nation and the world.” 

In this and other decisions, the lawmakers said, the BLM is refusing to acknowledge mining on its so-called multiple use framework under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act — a 1976 law that requires BLM to balance uses of public land for recreation, energy, mining, and agricultural interests in their states. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Industry groups also criticized the decision, arguing that it could hurt energy security and force outsize reliance on less-efficient producers in other parts of the world.

“At a time of deteriorating grid reliability, soaring electricity demand and ongoing concern about global energy shocks, proposing a plan of no new coal leasing in the Powder River Basin is outrageous,” Rich Nolan, the CEO and president of the National Mining Statement, said in a statement Thursday. “This damages American energy security and affordability and is a severe economic blow to mining states and communities.”

The bicameral resolution would mark May as “Fallen Heroes Memorial Month,” a move both lawmakers believe to be long overdue as National Police Week comes to a close.

“We all owe a debt of gratitude to the Americans who have bravely given their lives for our nation, and we should honor them for more than just one day each calendar year,” Bishop said of the proposal. 

Bishop announced plans to run for North Carolina attorney general in August last year, meaning the two-term congressman has only the remaining year to implement his legislative agenda. 

The resolution marks a continuation of Republican strategy on Capitol Hill where, throughout National Police Week, GOP lawmakers have introduced several pro-law enforcement bills in an effort to cement the party’s law and order accolades. 

Accordingly, Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Andy Ogles (R-TN), and Kelly Armstong (R-ND) have all signed on as co-sponsors of the legislation. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“Memorial Day is not about grilling by the lake — it is a solemn day to remember and honor the brave men and women who have given their lives for this country,” Tuberville said. “Our fallen heroes deserve to be celebrated for more than one day a year.” 

“Numerous months are devoted to specific causes and identities, but our fallen heroes are not currently among them,” Bishop said.

The 92-page report from the VA Office of Inspector General found that though the payments were canceled after the alarm was raised, some haven’t been recouped yet.

Shelby Anderson, a disabled Marine veteran, expressed his frustration with the news.

“Many of us have been shot at in the line of fire and risked our lives for this country, so it’s a slap in the face to see $11 million spent on bonuses while countless veterans wait for the support they desperately need,” he said. “It’s especially disheartening when the VA system appears very corrupt, prioritizing bonuses over the well-being of those who served. Witnessing firsthand how poorly the VA is run, it’s clear that no one should be rewarded for their work or job well done with bonuses that amount to more than a yearly salary for most military members.”

Concerned Veterans for America Executive Director Russ Duerstine is calling on Undersecretary of Health Shereef Elnahal and Undersecretary of Benefits Joshua Jacobs to resign in light of the news.

“In light of the recent bonus scandal, the message to Secretary McDonough and VA leadership is clear: VA officials must be held fully accountable for their actions,” he said. “We’re calling for both Undersecretary Elnahal and Jacobs to resign from their positions immediately.  Leaders who do not honor the public trust need to be held accountable. At a minimum, veterans deserve to feel confident that the VA system can allocate funds properly.” 

Kate Monroe, CEO of VetComm, expressed similar outrage.

“This money awarded by Congress was specifically to help ease the backlog and make it easier for the men and women who served our country and became injured or disabled to receive the compensation they deserve,” she said in a statement. “To instead see that money go toward lining the pockets of execs and not help those who served should upset a lot of people.”

Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) is leading a group of bipartisan lawmakers in demanding accountability for the affair, specifically expressing outrage over the fact that many of the bonuses haven’t yet been recouped despite being notified in September.

“While we appreciate that upon learning of these payments in September you demanded the executives reimburse the VA, eight months have passed, and the money is still being recouped,” a letter to VA Secretary Dennis McDonough read. “The VA has an obligation to the veterans and families they serve to claw back the millions of dollars that were improperly distributed, reallocate the funds to their original purpose, and discipline the senior executives who do not comply.”

The money for the bonuses was taken from critical skill incentive, or CSI, payments, which were created through the PACT Act, which itself was primarily meant to help veterans who had been exposed to toxic substances during their service. CSI payments are supposed to be used as an incentive for employees who “possess a high-demand skill or skill that is at a shortage” in order to help the VA meet its staffing requirements.

The erroneous bonus payments were doled out to 182 senior executives, with the amounts for each ranging from $39,000 to over $100,000. The Office of Inspector General reviewed the matter and found that the issuance of the bonuses “lacked adequate justification” and was due to “breakdowns in leadership and controls at multiple levels of VA.”

Many of those who received the payments, only to be notified that they must be returned, also expressed outrage.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“Folks don’t have this money that was given to them. … Folks paid college tuition for their children. People paid off debt. People did all types of things to better their lives, and now VA says we made an error [and we] want that money back,” one executive said. “I think leadership really needs to see the human factor of what they’re doing because the accountability is gone, and the trust is absolutely shot.”

The report from the Office of Inspector General said two executives decided to retire over the recoupment of the payments.

The California school’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter posted screenshots of Lee’s email, which commits to divest from and boycott the Jewish nation, as well as create an Advisory Council of Students for Justice in Palestine, recognize the Palestinian identity and build out a curriculum and programing for Palestine Studies, as well as make a statement in support of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Sonoma State University, which is part of the California State University system, became the first school in the country to explicitly announce an academic boycott of Israel.

Lee apologized for the ‘harm that this has caused’

“In my attempt to find agreement with one group of students, I marginalized other members of our student population and community,” Lee said in an apology email obtained by the Washington Examiner. “I realize the harm that this has caused, and I take full ownership of it. I deeply regret the unintended consequences of my actions.”

In his apology email, Lee said his announcement was “drafted and sent without the approval of, or consultation with, the Chancellor or other system leaders.”

The Washington Examiner reached out to Sonoma State University to see if the school will be overturning the decisions listed in the announcement after Lee was placed on leave.

Lee noted that while he meant to foster a safe and inclusive environment for all students, “I realize now that my message has caused more fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. This was not my intent.”

The SSU president will be working with the Chancellor’s Office to determine next steps as he reflects “on the harm this has caused.” The school’s deputy vice chancellor for academic and student affairs, Nathan Evans, will serve as acting president in Lee’s place.

Roz Rothstein, co-founder and CEO of pro-Israel group StandWithUs, applauded the decision to place Lee on leave. She said, “StandWithUs deeply appreciates leaders across California who acted quickly after Sonoma State’s shameful agreement became public.”

“We hope this case sets an example for all universities that face pressure from anti-Israel extremists. Instead of caving to the demands of hate groups and their supporters, campus leaders must enforce their policies and stand up to antisemitism,” she added.

Many schools are making concessions to anti-Israel protesters

Other schools around the country have reached agreements with anti-Israel protesters, including Brown University which agreed to hold a vote on divesting from Israel in exchange for student protesters tearing down their encampment. Northwestern University agreed to re-establish an Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility, but stopped short of a divestment vote.

Evergreen State College agreed to work toward divesting from “‘companies that profit from gross human rights violations and/or the occupation of Palestinian territories,’” while San Francisco State University agreed to divest from “direct investments in weapons manufacturers.”

Harvard University reached its agreement with student protesters on Tuesday, agreeing to hold reinstatement proceedings for those suspended for their alleged participation in the anti-Israel encampment, as well as expedite the cases of other students facing disciplinary procedures “in line with precedents of leniency for similar actions in the past.”

The school additionally will meet with the protesters “to begin discussions on disclosure, divestment, and reinvestment.” They will also have conversations about creating a “Center for Palestine Studies at Harvard.”

How boycott, divest, and sanctions campaigns impact Jewish students

Campaigns to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel are not new on campus, and almost 200 BDS campaigns have been voted on by student governments since 2005. They exploded in popularity between 2012 and 2019, but have reached new heights since the start of the war in Gaza.

After Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack against Israel, BDS campaigns and anti-Israel protests began to spread more rapidly, and mass reports of antisemitic violence and harassment in campus communities followed. There has been a massive spike in such reports following Columbia President Minouche Shafik’s April 17 House testimony on campus antisemitism, with anti-Israel encampments popping up at many schools around the country.

Carly Cooperman, CEO and pollster at Schoen Cooperman Research, previously told the Washington Examiner that these campaigns are a major contributor to Jewish students feeling unsafe on campus, with 73% feeling less safe at school since Oct. 7.

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, director of the pro-Israel campus group AMCHA Initative, explained to the Washington Examiner how BDS campaigns impact Jewish students on campus.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“Our annual studies of the 100 colleges and universities most popular with Jewish students have shown schools with BDS activity are about 3 times more likely to have incidents targeting Jewish students for harm than schools with little or no BDS activity,” she said.

“We have also shown that the vast majority of incidents involving the anti-Zionist motivated harassment of Jewish students were consistent with actions prescribed by the guidelines of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI),” she continued.