The death of a pledge fraternity student has the U.S. government looking into initiations and hazing.
Caleb Wilson's tragic death at Southern University as a lot of people talking.
The Baton Rouge Police investigated the incident and has arrested three men for manslaughter. The suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
The chapter of Omega Psi Phi was immediately suspended.
“Caleb Wilson died as a direct result of a hazing incident where he was punched in the chest multiple times while pledging to Omega Psi Phi fraternity,” Baton Rouge Police Department Chief Thomas Morse Jr. told reporters.
Fraternity member Caleb McCray, 23, was arrested Thursday evening and faces charges of manslaughter and felony criminal hazing in the death of Wilson, a mechanical engineering junior at the school who died in late February.
Wilson and eight others pledging the fraternity were punched by McCray and at least two other individuals wearing boxing gloves, according to a police arrest warrant affidavit reviewed by The Associated Press.
After McCray punched Wilson four times in the chest, Wilson “collapsed to the floor, becoming unresponsive,” the affidavit states. “Wilson appeared to suffer a seizure and lose control of his bodily function.” No signs of trauma were found on Wilson’s body except for a “small bruise” on the right side of his chest.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office was awaiting the results of additional testing but didn’t know when those would be complete, Chief of Investigations Shane Tindall said.
McCray had no intention to “cause death or great bodily harm” to Wilson, the police affidavit states.
McCray’s attorney, Phillip Robinson, said his client deserved due process.
“I maintain my client’s innocence and urge the public to withhold rushing to judgment until all the evidence is heard,” Robinson said in an emailed statement.
Three men face manslaughter. They also were kicked out of the school and banned from their fraternity.
McCray and his family declined to comment, Robinson added.
Wilson was initially brought to a hospital by a group of men who falsely said that he had “collapsed while playing basketball at a park” but in fact had suffered injuries at a flooring company warehouse, Morse said.
The group left before police arrived at the hospital and no one contacted 911 at any point, Morse added. They changed Wilson’s clothing before bringing him to the hospital, the affidavit states.
In Louisiana, hazing can be a felony under the Max Gruver Act, which passed in 2018 and was named after a Louisiana State University student who died of alcohol poisoning after hazing at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house.
Under the act, if a person being hazed dies or is seriously injured, violators face up to a $10,000 fine and five years in prison. Organizations, representatives and officers of an organization, and educational institutions can also face penalties.
Omega Psi Phi could face civil penalties under the act, East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore said.
The fraternity’s campus chapter has been ordered to “cease all activities” and students involved in Wilson’s death could face expulsion, Southern University President Dennis Shields told reporters.
Kyle Thurman, 25, and Isaiah Smith, 28, have been arrested and face charges of felony criminal hazing for their role in the death of Caleb Wilson, a mechanical engineering junior at the school who died in late February.
Smith was seen on surveillance video removing Wilson from his vehicle and bringing him to a hospital, according to a police arrest warrant affidavit reviewed by The Associated Press.
Wilson died as a “direct result” of the hazing, Morse Jr. said.
Smith held the title “Dean of Pledges” and was in charge of the ritual during the hazing, the affidavit states. He turned himself in on Tuesday, police say.
Smith’s lawyer, Franz Borghardt, said it is important to note that Smith is not accused of making physical contact with Wilson and that no one was aware of any underlying medical conditions he may have had.
“This was a freak accident; we’re not talking about force-feeding alcohol,” Borghardt said. “To be sure, everyone in that fraternity cares about Caleb. Our hearts go out to the Wilson family.”
Both Smith and Thurman participated in punching some of the nine pledges, but they are not described as hitting Wilson, according to police arrest warrant affidavits.
Smith’s father, Todd Smith, runs a flooring company where the hazing incident occurred, Borghardt said.
Todd Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thurman could not be reached for comment, and police and court officials were not able to provide information for his legal representation.
McCray’s lawyer, Phillip Robinson, said he is innocent and urged the public to withhold judgment.
In Louisiana, hazing can be a felony under the Max Gruver Act, which passed in 2018 and was named after a Louisiana State University student who died of alcohol poisoning after hazing at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house.
Under the act, if a person being hazed dies or is seriously injured, violators face up to a $10,000 fine and five years in prison. Organizations, representatives and officers of an organization, and educational institutions can also face penalties.
The fraternity Wilson was pledging, Omega Psi Phi, could face civil penalties under the act. A fraternity spokesperson said it is cooperating with authorities.
The fraternity’s campus chapter has been ordered to cease activities and Greek life organizations have been barred from taking on new members for the remainder of the academic year, Southern University President Dennis Shields told reporters last week.
Hundreds of people turned out in early March for a vigil in honor of Wilson, a passionate trumpet player in the university’s famed band.
Well on the eve of a government shutdown, the third in the presidency of Donald J. Trump, a longtime Arizona lawmaker has passed away.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) is the latest lawmaker to die. Texas Democratic lawmaker Sylvester Turner had passed away on Monday.
Grijalva has opposed funding Israel in its genocide. He called for former president Joe Biden to drop out after a disastrous debate and several health scares.
Biden outlived his critic.
President Donald J. Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Gov. Katie Hobbs, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY) have been notified.
He was a champion of environmental protections and progressive ideals who took on principled but often futile causes during a two-decade career in Congress, died Thursday.
Grijalva, who was 77, had risen to chair the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee during his 12 terms representing Southern Arizona, a powerful perch he used to shape the nation’s environmental policies. He was known for reliably going to bat for immigrants and Native American tribes, and for the bolo tie he wore at home in Tucson and in the Capitol in Washington.
Grijalva died of complications from cancer treatment, his office said in a statement. The treatments had sidelined him from Congress in recent months.
“From permanently protecting the Grand Canyon for future generations to strengthening the Affordable Care Act, his proudest moments in Congress have always been guided by community voices,” Grijalva’s office said.
Jeffries said in a statement that Congress and the country had “lost a giant” with Grijalva’s death.
“Congressman Grijalva represented his community fiercely, keeping his constituents and the climate at the center of everything he did,” Jeffries added.
Dedicated to environmental causes
Grijalva, the son of a Mexican immigrant, was first elected to the House in 2002. Known as a liberal leader, he led the Congressional Progressive Caucus for a decade and dedicated much of his career to working on environmental causes.
He stepped down as the top Democrat on the Natural Resources committee earlier this year, after announcing that he planned to retire rather than run for reelection in 2026.
Raúl Grijalva was a champion of progressive issues.
Grijalva announced nearly a year ago that he had been diagnosed with cancer, but would be able to continue his work. Despite missing hundreds of House votes, he sought reelection in 2024 and won easily in one of the most solidly Democratic districts in Arizona.
The seat, which represents a district spanning southern Arizona from Tucson to the border with Mexico, will remain vacant until a replacement is selected in a special election later this year.
The Democratic primary in the mostly Hispanic district is likely to be a fierce battle between allies of Grijalva, a longtime Southern Arizona power broker who led an influential bloc of progressive elected officials, and a more moderate faction. Possible contenders include his daughter, Adelita Grijalva, a member of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, and Tucson Major Regina Romero, one of Grijalva’s longtime allies.
Viewed as a role model
Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, who served in the House until last year, said in a statement that “Congressman Grijalva was not just my colleague, but my friend.”
“As another Latino working in public service, I can say from experience that he served as a role model to many young people across the Grand Canyon State. He spent his life as a voice for equality,” Gallego added.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, praised Grijalva as “one of the most progressive members” in the House.
“Raúl was a fighter for working families throughout his entire life. He will be sorely missed,” Sanders said in a statement.
Grijalva started out as a community organizer in Tucson and served on the local school board for years before being elected to the Pima County Board of Supervisors. He resigned from that post in 2002 to seek office in what was then Arizona’s newly created 7th Congressional District.
Grijalva prided himself on representing what he considered the underdogs, those without a voice.
Grijalva’s “kind and humble nature was known to many. He was approachable by all because he believed people should be treated as equals. He loved to give gifts, blare music in his office, and get to know people for who they are,” his office said in a statement.
He worked on issues that ranged from securing water supplies for drought-stricken parts of Arizona and the West to securing funding for the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, which safeguards natural areas and provides recreation opportunities to the public.
He also played a key role in writing the National Landscape Conservation System Act and the Federal Lands Restoration Act, which were passed and signed by President Barack Obama.
In recent years, he also led advocacy in Congress for the creation of a new national monument near the Grand Canyon. It was part of an effort to protect the area from uranium mining and to acknowledge repeated calls by Native American tribes that sought to protect more of their ancestral homelands.
He also opposed plans to develop a major copper mine in southern Arizona.
Rep. David Schweikert, a Republican and fellow Arizonan, said on the social platform X that Grijalva “was always very kind to me — he had a great sense of humor. As a fellow animal lover, we often found ourselves working together on animal protection issues.”
Rep. Jesús G. “Chuy” Garcia of Illinois said Grijalva loved a line from the Spanish song “El Rey,” which translates to: “it’s not only about getting there first but about how you get there.”
“I think this phrase perfectly describes his tenacity in everything he did,” Garcia said.
Jeanne Shaheen retires putting New Hampshire U.S. senate seat in a competitive race.
Vulnerable Democratic senator announces she won't seek reelection.
Michigan, Minnesota and New Hampshire.
Sen. Gary Peters (D-MN), Sen. Tina Smith and now Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).
Another AIPAC backed lawmaker.
All three of these senators supported the apartheid ethnostate of Israel. All three of them voted to fund Israel's genocide on the Palestinians.
Shaheen is considered one of the vulnerable along with Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA).
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) are the most vulnerable in 2028.
In a video, Shaheen told her constituents, "Today, I am announcing that I have made the difficult decision not to seek re-election to the Senate in 2026."
"It’s just time," she added.
While she does not plan to run next year, Shaheen, 78, added that she would not be leaving her seat early. "Believe me, I am not retiring. I am determined to work every day over the next two years and beyond to continue to try to make a difference for the people of New Hampshire and this country."
Former Massachusetts GOP Sen. Scott Brown, who lost a New Hampshire Senate race against Shaheen back in 2014, has reportedly been weighing another run in the Granite State. Brown was spotted at the Capitol meeting with Senate Republicans on Tuesday, and told Semafor that he is "thinking about" running for Senate.
Brown wrote in a post on X that he appreciated Shaheen's service, and said, "Now it’s time for New Hampshire to have someone in the delegation who fights for our priorities and stands with, not against, the Trump agenda."
Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, who was first elected in 2018, is considering running for the Senate seat, according to a source familiar with his thinking.
It's the third Democratic Senate retirement in a potentially competitive midterm race so far this election cycle.
Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan announced in January that he would not run again, opening up the race in one of the most tightly divided states in the country, which President Donald J. Trump carried in 2024.
Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota is also retiring in 2026, and while her state has not been as close as Michigan in recent years, there have been a number of close statewide races there in recent years, including in 2024, when Trump lost by just over 4 percentage points.
Republicans currently enjoy a 53-47 edge in the Senate, meaning that Democrats would have to net four seats to win the majority in 2026, since the GOP controls the tie-breaking vice presidency.
Former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is also retiring in 2026, though his seat in deep-red Kentucky is highly unlikely to be competitive.
New Hampshire's entire congressional delegation is controlled by Democrats, but the state has a history of electing members of both parties, and the presidential race was close there in 2024. Former Vice President Kamala Harris carried the state by 3 percentage points.
Also in 2024, Republican Kelly Ayotte won the state's governorship, beating Democratic former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig by 9 percentage points. Ayotte is also the most recent Republican to represent the state in the Senate, though she lost her re-election race in 2016 to now-Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan.
Ayotte is the second consecutive Republican governor elected by Granite State voters, as she succeeded former GOP Gov. Chris Sununu. Sununu was recruited to run for Senate last year but declined Republican entreaties.
Republicans expressed confidence that they could flip the open Senate seat, with National Republican Senatorial Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., saying in a statement that the state “has a proud tradition of electing common-sense Republicans—and will do so again in 2026!”
Democrats, though, believe the state’s historical trends are on their side.
“No Republican has won a Senate race in over a decade in New Hampshire, and that trend will continue in 2026. This is exactly the kind of state where the building midterm backlash against Republicans will hit their candidates especially hard,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman David Bergstein.
A human rights group placed the United States on a list of failing democracies.
Texas Republican insults Delaware Democrat. Fellow Massachusetts Democrat defends her and the Republican gets upset and ends the committee hearing.
It all started when a South Carolina Republican got upset that the Delaware voters picked a person who became a historical first. It has been a relentless smear campaign and attack on the person.
Mind you, they backed serial liars George Santos and Donald J. Trump. Santos was the first gay Republican elected but was ousted in nine months after a series of bombshells about his pathetic life surfaced. He is currently facing ten indictments by the U.S. Justice Department. Santos is petitioning Trump for a pardon.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) are miserable alcoholics. Prove me wrong.
Greene and Boebert are cokeheads. Prove me wrong.
Mace smokes weed and has a heavy drinking problem. There are signs she could a volatile drunk.
The day will come when South Carolina law enforcement pulls her over and she uses her congressional privilege to get out of an arrest. Trust me, it will happen.
Rep. Keith Self (R-TX) is a former Collin County judge who won his congressional seat in 2022. He is serving in his second term as one of the many insufferable assholes in Congress. He is a white nationalist.
What angers me about these lawmakers is the fact they all are compromised by the Israeli lobby. Self and Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) are on the AIPAC payroll.
“I now recognize the representative from Delaware, Mr. McBride.”
Without missing a beat, McBride responded by thanking Self and referring to him as “madam chair.”
McBride is not going to let a bunch of bigots distract her.
McBride, the first U.S. Representative that identifies as a transwoman is a freshman lawmaker. She is vilified by the far right. She as well as Greene, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) have U.S. Capitol Police protection because of rampant threats to their lives.
In the same fashion, the Republicans are calling Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) and "ghetto Black bitch."
They call Omar and Tlaib, "terrorists." They want them deported. They want to send them beepers in regards to the terrorist attack Israel conducted in Lebanon.
They call Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) a "Communist" and want her to get on her knees and practice in oral hygiene.
But if you criticize President Donald J. Trump, confront Vice President JD Vance with his children, criticize Elon Musk, criticize Israel or help immigrants learn their rights, cue the outrage from the very same folks who disrespect the lawmakers they hate.
McBride is often deadnamed or called "mister" and "sir."
She often brushes it off and sometimes retorts these Republicans.
Rep. Bill Keating (D-MA) who is also on the AIPAC payroll quickly got to Self.
Keating, then interjected and asked Self to repeat his remarks. After Self doubled down and called McBride “mister,” he said, “We have set the standard on the House floor.”
Keating turned to Self and said those remarks were “not decent.”
“Mr. Chairman, you are out of order,” Keating said. “Mr. Chairman, have you no decency? I mean, I have come to know you a little bit, but this is not decent.”
Self tried to continue the hearing, but Keating stopped him, saying, “You will not continue it with me unless you introduce a duly elected representative the right way.”
In response, Self struck down his gavel and declared the hearing adjourned. As people shuffled out of the room, Keating patted McBride on the shoulder.
The hearing was billed as a discussion of the State Department and policies on arms control, international security and U.S. assistance to Europe.
“I was disappointed that the Chair decided to end a committee hearing early," McBride said in a statement Tuesday night. "I was prepared to move forward with my questions for the Subcommittee on nuclear nonproliferation and US support for Democratic allies in Europe."
When reached by NBC News, a spokesperson for Keating said the congressman "doesn't think there is a need for additional comment as the video speaks for itself."
Self's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Self responded to a clip of the confrontation on X, writing, “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female.”
Bill Keating defends Sarah McBride from Keith Self. American voters see the childish behavior of our elected leaders and it shows how our government is failing.
Trump, a convicted felon and sexual predator used that language in a Jan. 20 executive order declaring that the federal government will only recognize two, unchangeable sexes.
Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), a white nationalist referred to McBride as “the gentleman from Delaware” during remarks on the House floor. Miller criticized the Congressional Record for initially revising her words to say “Ms. McBride,” in a post on X.
The Congressional Record from that day now refers to McBride as said by Miller: “The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. MILLER of Illinois). The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Delaware, Mr. MCBRIDE, for 5 minutes.”
In November, McBride made history by becoming the first out transgender person elected to Congress.
Before she was sworn in, McBride quickly became a target for some Republican lawmakers. That drunk Mace introduced a resolution weeks after McBride was elected banning transgender women from using female bathrooms in the Capitol.
The next day, Mace said her resolution was “absolutely” aimed at McBride.
Johnson informally enacted the bathroom policy in November and renewed it at the start of this year as one of the policies for the 119th Congress.
McBride told NBC News in January that she was not taking the “bait” over the bathroom policy, adding that it was meant to “diminish my capacity to be an effective member of Congress” and that people who secured historic “firsts” like her must “pick their battles.”
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) is insufferable. He does have legitimate issues that deserve a primary challenge.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is one of the most important laws in the country. Massie voted against it. His district which includes cities of Northern Kentucky, key suburbs of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. Former president Joe Biden managed to get Cincinnati approval for a new bridge to cross the Ohio River.
The Interstate 75 bridge known as the Brent Spence Bridge carries over 200,000 vehicles a day. The bridge is dangerous. Interstate 75 and 71 are crucial freeways for Cincinnati.
The law was a huge achievement for Ohio and Kentucky.
Massie was the only one who didn't think it mattered.
Now his district will get some of the benefits of the law to help ease traffic.
In mid-2025, the ground will be broken and the bridge will be built within three to five years. The Interstate 75 Thru the Valley corridor between Lockland, Ohio and Walton, Kentucky will hopefully be completed in 2030. The corridor between Dayton and Lexington will eventually start in 2027.
Massie and his family did the controversial Christmas gun photo. His wife, Rhonda (right) passed away in 2024.
President Donald J. Trump demands loyalty from Republican members.
Massie supports about 95% of Trump's agenda. However, that 5% involves spending and Israel.
Now Trump and AIPAC vow to oust him.
Trump vowing to “lead the charge” to unseat Massie, who has said he will not support the GOP’s short-term government funding bill ahead of Friday’s shutdown deadline.
Trump began a Truth Social post late Monday night by thanking the House Freedom Caucus for backing the stopgap funding package and supporting Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) efforts to keep the government open, and then called on Massie to be primaried.
“Thank you to the House Freedom Caucus for just delivering a big blow to the Radical Left Democrats and their desire to raise Taxes and SHUT OUR COUNTRY DOWN! They hate America and all it stands for. That’s why they allowed MILLIONS of Criminals to invade our Nation. Sometimes it takes great courage to do the right thing. Congressman Thomas Massie, of beautiful Kentucky, is an automatic ‘NO’ vote on just about everything, despite the fact that he has always voted for Continuing Resolutions in the past. HE SHOULD BE PRIMARIED, and I will lead the charge against him,” Trump said.
If Thomas Massie needed a threat to his job, I believe Stephanie Dietz to be a formidable Republican challenger. If Trump backs her, Massie is toast.
The president then compared Massie to Liz Cheney, who served on the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and was censured by the Republican National Committee. Trump endorsed Cheney’s successful primary challenger in the 2022 race.
“He’s just another GRANDSTANDER, who’s too much trouble, and not worth the fight. He reminds me of Liz Chaney before her historic, record breaking fall (loss!). The people of Kentucky won’t stand for it, just watch. DO I HAVE ANY TAKERS??? Anyway, thank you again to the House Freedom Caucus for your very important vote. We need to buy some time in order to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE. Unite and Win!!!” Trump said.
Massie has frequently bucked his party on fiscal matters and has cast doubt on passing the continuing resolution to keep the government funded until the end of the fiscal year.
“Someone thinks they can control my voting card by threatening my re-election. Guess what? Doesn’t work on me,” Massie said on the social platform X before Trump’s post.
“Three times I’ve had a challenger who tried to be more MAGA than me,” Massie added. “None busted 25% because my constituents prefer transparency and principles over blind allegiance.
The president also attacked Massie in 2020, when he called him a “third rate Grandstander” on X and called on him to be thrown out of the Republican Party.
Massie appeared on Tucker Carlson's podcast last year declaring that most of his House colleagues on both sides of the aisle have an AIPAC handler.
Zionists tried to stage a violent attack on Jewish synagogues. Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister of Australia is unpopular thanks to his support of Israel.
Israel has control of the United States, Great Britain, New Zealand, Canada, France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Ukraine, Poland, Austria, Argentina and Australia.
Their support of the apartheid ethnostate will destroy them as well.
The world is sick and tired of Israel, Zionism and the United States giving aid and cover to this country.
Everyday some event is happening and usually it involves some form of extremism.
The New South Wales Authorities and Australian Federal Police arrest plotters of a "staged" antisemitic attack. I am guessing the Mossad tried to stage an attack in Sydney to drive up conspiracies about Arabs and Muslims.
If this was carried out, almost immediately Australian authorities would single out Arabs and Muslims. Then the U.S. leaders would pick up on it.
President Donald J. Trump, Vice President JD Vance, the Anti-Defamation League and AIPAC would latch on and accuse pro Palestinian protesters of supporting terrorism.
Israel will condemn it and state that they are the last line of defense to stopping terrorism and barbarian savages.
This is how the West describes Arabs, Blacks and Asians.
An explosives-filled trailer that Australian politicians earlier described as an antisemitic terrorism plot and a foiled mass casualty event was staged by criminals in a complicated hoax and was never meant to be detonated, police said Monday.
Law enforcement agencies investigating January's discovery of the trailer on the outskirts of Sydney divulged in a news conference that its placement was concocted by criminals who meant to derive personal gain from tipping off authorities to its presence — a bizarre twist in a saga that followed a monthslong wave of antisemitic crimes in Australia.
The cluster of attacks targeting places where Jewish people live, work and study, including a firebombing of a synagogue and a daycare center and several instances of antisemitic vandalism, were committed by "a very small group, and potentially one individual behind all those matters," Deputy Police Commissioner for the state of New South Wales David Hudson told reporters on Monday.
Even in America, the Zionists will call for deporting protesters who call for the destruction of Israel.
Authorities in January made the unusual claim that none of the 12 they had then arrested in relation to the spate of crimes in Australia's largest cities Sydney and Melbourne was driven by antisemitic ideology and were instead criminals for hire. Hudson said 14 more arrested Monday were not motivated by hate either.
But he added he has no doubt that antisemitism in Australia — which has dominated news media and the political sphere following the recent spate of crimes — has experienced "an escalation over the past 18 months" since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Preliminary data released by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry just a few months after that attack showed a total of 662 antisemitic incidents across Australia were reported during October and November 2023.
So the Executive Council of Australian Jewry is the Australian version of the ADL.
It is spying on Australians and pushing legislators to stifle free speech.
It claims antisemitism spiked. The ADLin the U.S. is notorious for making up statistics and bogus claims to instigate federal officials to pass legislation or enact punishments.
Trump had recently used the Department of Justice to unlawfully arrest Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate who is a leading protester at the recent encampments protesting the university's invite of Israeli former prime minister Naftali Bennett.
So protesting at a synagogue that sponsors a conference to sell stolen land is counted.
Spraying graffiti stating "Free Palestine" or "Fuck Israel" is counted.
Protesting at college campuses, demanding legislators end funding of Israel and boycotting entertainers or companies that back Israel is counted.
"By comparison, there were 495 anti-Jewish incidents reported in Australia for the entire 12 months to 30 September 2023," the council said at the time.
In response to the rise in such incidents, Australia enacted new laws in January 2024 explicitly banning the performance of the Nazi salute in public and the display or sale of Nazi hate symbols such as the swastika. The new laws also made the act of glorifying or praising acts of terrorism a criminal offense.
"Essentially a criminal con job"
But a number of incidents now appear to have been part of the elaborate criminal hoax, and not, in fact, rooted in antisemitism.
The revelation — leaked to the public before law enforcement planned to announce it — that a trailer was found in January outside Sydney, packed with explosives used in the mining industry and containing a list of purported Jewish targets, prompted state and national leaders to say it represented an escalation in potential extremist violence.
But investigators said Monday that they "almost immediately" believed the trailer's appearance was "part of a fabricated terrorist plot, essentially a criminal con job," but kept their suspicions a secret, according to Australian federal police deputy commissioner Krissy Barrett.
The trailer was easily found and the explosives were visibly displayed. "Also, there was no detonator," Barrett said, adding that it was "never going to cause a mass casualty event."
Instead, those who staged the caravan planned to then inform the authorities of an impending attack against Jewish Australians, said Barrett. Why investigators believed they had done so was not simple.
The motivation, overseas interests, and a culprit still at large
Barrett and Hudson, speaking on behalf of a joint law enforcement effort assembled to arrest the perpetrators of antisemitic crimes, said they believed those who faked the trailer plot meant to attract attention from authorities, divert police resources, create fear and leverage the situation for personal gain. That might have included attempts to use information about an attack to bargain with police for lesser sentences in other criminal proceedings.
"We believe the person pulling the strings wanted changes to their criminal status but maintained a distance from their scheme and hired alleged local criminals," Barrett said. That person remains at large, she added.
Authorities have said since January that they believe overseas interests are orchestrating the crimes, although they haven't been more specific. They also haven't divulged which local criminal groups might have been hired to undertake the attacks, which have included hateful graffiti.
It wasn't the only time this has happened, Barrett added. "Too many offenders working in a criminal gig economy are accepting these tasks for money," she said.
The 14 people arrested Monday face charges in relation to the more than a dozen attacks investigators believe were orchestrated.
The strange twist caps a summer where antisemitic crimes roiled Sydney and Melbourne, home to 85% of Australia's Jewish population. One person has been physically hurt — a worshipper who suffered burns in the fire that was set at a Melbourne synagogue in December.
There was "some comfort to be taken by the Jewish community," in the fact that the worst episodes were not ideological acts of hated, Hudson said. But the crimes have had "a chilling effect on the Jewish community" and provoked unwarranted suspicion of other groups, Barrett added.
The high-profile attacks are not the only ones police are investigating. Nearly 200 more people have been charged since October 2023 in the state of New South Wales, where Sydney is located, with crimes linked to antisemitism, police told The Associated Press in February.
Those fucking hypocrites sat in silence as Israel is killing women and children.
They can fuck themselves.
Israel has killed Americans. No one was held accountable.
The killing of Rachel Corrie did not move George W. Bush to cut Israel loose.
The deaths of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, Tawfiq Abdel Jabbar, Mohammad Khdour, Omar Assad, Shireen Abu Akleh, Jacob Flickinger and Kamel Ahmad Jawad were never investigated by the U.S. Justice Department.
Mask off.
Resistance is not terrorism.
Occupation of oppressed people is not peace.
A two state solution is "separate but equal" and a de facto apartheid.
Telling other countries to take Palestinians is ethnic cleansing.
A sovereignty seizing land in a violent conflict is a war crime.
The double standard in media coverage is the Israelis are hostages and the Palestinians are prisoners. Some of the Palestinians held in Israeli custody are children under the age of 14.
When Russia seized Ukrainian land and Crimea, the U.S. pushed for sanctions.
When Israel seized Lebanese and Syrian land, the U.S. recognized it as Israeli sovereignty. They have actively rejected sanctions imposed on Israel.
Hamas stated the reasons for the attack on occupation forces. It has nothing to do with the Jewish religion or Iran.
The IDF has the weapons to destroy everything. All on the American taxpayer, Israel has killed civilians, their own citizens and the status quo.
Holding these lawmakers accountable is not just a pledge, but a promise. You need to learn who represents your community. Your local community member, your school board member, your mayor, your state representative, your state senator, your governor, your U.S. Representative, your U.S. Senator and the president need to be held accountable for their actions.
Israel must be held accountable for war crimes and the U.S. must end its aid. Our taxpayer money should not help Israel any further.
Israel is the red line. If any lawmaker, entertainer, athlete or social media influncer backs the apartheid ethnostate, they face a boycott.
Regardless of political affiliation, if you are supporting Israel, you are not getting donations or a vote from me.
I will hold President Donald J. Trump and Vice President JD Vance accountable.
The call number to the White House and US Capitol is now going to be used. This is the official White House numbers 202-456-1111 and 202-456-1414. This is the Congress official phone number, 202-224-3121. Please be respectful to operators, staff members and elected leaders. Your calls are monitored by the US Secret Service and US Capitol Police.
The number to the Prime Minister and Cabinet is 02 6271 5111 or +61 2 6271 5111 (international). Visit Directory.gov.au for key contacts at PM&C. Please be respectful to operators, staff members and elected leaders. Your calls are monitored by Australian Federal Police.
Let them know that "thoughts and prayers," "hearts going to", "illegal immigrants" and "good guys with guns" are no longer acceptable and you want legislation to focus on ending gun violence, lowering costs, improving healthcare and building relationships with other nations. Let them know that we are tired of police officers using immunity when committing death of suspects in custody. Let them know that you are tired of private equity firms getting away with destroying small businesses and long established companies. Let them know that you are tired of your taxpayer money going to foreign nations like Israel. You are tired of hearing about "Israel having a right to..." and the bogus claims of being anti-Semitic or in support of terrorism.
We have bigger issues at home and our tax dollars should solve the housing crisis, lowering food prices, fixing roads, bridges, helping reinvest in struggling urban and rural communities. We have hospitals closing, big box retailers leaving communities and television programs dying. There are bigger issues in the country than Israel. You want an immediate ceasefire and accountability for war crimes done by Israel. You want no more foreign influence in American elections. You also want to make sure future presidents and legislators avoid influence from lobbyists.
Mahmoud Khalil (center) is being detained by ICE because he spoke out against Israel. The U.S. claims he provided material support to terrorist without evidence.
The U.S. is demanding Hamas release the hostages.
You mean the settlers and IDF soliders held in Gaza.
Students who are on student visas are being deported for daring to speak out against the inhumane actions of Israel. Many are sacrificing their careers to stand up for Palestinians.
For the first time, more Americans are opposing the actions of Israel.
But don't tell Congress and President Donald J. Trump.
Republicans are trying to pass legislation that forbids foreign flags from being flown on federal and state buildings. Israel might get a pass.
Mahmoud Khalil was protesting for a Free Palestine. A bunch of lunatics were upset and thus they called upon a far right group called Betar US. The group and the Anti-Defamation League ran to the Trump administration to snitch.
So Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Attorney General Pam Bondi signed off on arresting Khalil. He is held in an interment facility in Louisiana.
A federal judge has temporarily paused the deportation. But as of today, his whereabouts are unknown. The Republicans and some Democrats support his deportation.
The Jewish extremist organization Betar US is working in tandem to dox protesters and entertainers who support Palestine.
They infiltrate college campuses and U.S. businesses to take pictures of protesters and send them to Israeli intelligence and the U.S. Department of Justice.
The goal is to get protesters arrested. They want to push for students to be kicked out of colleges and universities. They want students on visas to be deported.
They have used violence and threatened protesters with pagers. The pagers are in response to the Sept. 2024 terrorist attack on Lebanon. Israel detonated electronic devices in a state sponsored terrorist attack on Lebanese citizens.
Trump warned Monday that the arrest and possible deportation of a Palestinian activist who helped lead protests at Columbia University will be the first “of many to come” as his administration cracks down on campus demonstrations against Israel and the war in Gaza.
Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful U.S. resident who was a graduate student at Columbia until December, was detained Saturday by federal immigration agents in New York and flown to an immigration jail in Louisiana.
“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.”
But a federal judge in New York City ordered Monday that Khalil not be deported while the court considered a legal challenge brought by his lawyers. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Khalil’s detention drew outrage from civil rights groups and free speech advocates, who accused the administration of using its immigration enforcement powers to squelch criticism of Israel.
He is the first person known to be detained for deportation under Trump’s promised crackdown on student protests.
Federal immigration authorities also visited a second international student at Columbia on Friday evening and attempted to take her into custody but were not allowed to enter the apartment, according to a union representing the student.
Khalil, 30, had not been charged with any crime related to his activism, but Trump has argued that protesters forfeited their rights to remain in the country by protests he claimed support Hamas, the Palestinian group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The U.S. has designated Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) with a Betar US extremist named Ross Glick.
Khalil and other student leaders of Columbia University Apartheid Divest have rejected claims of antisemitism, saying they are part of a broader anti-war movement that also includes Jewish students and groups. But the protest coalition, at times, has also voiced support for leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Islamist organization designated by the U.S. as a terrorist group.
The U.S. Education Department on Monday warned some 60 colleges, including Harvard and Cornell, that they could lose federal money if they fail to uphold civil rights laws against antisemitism and ensure “uninterrupted access” to campus facilities and education opportunities. The Trump administration is already pulling $400 million from Columbia.
A group of Columbia faculty members expressed concern Monday that Khalil’s detention was intended to suppress free speech by students and staff who are not U.S. citizens.
“The attack on Mahmoud Khalil is intended to make them quake in their boots, and to make all of us quake in our boots,” said Michael Thaddeus, a Columbia math professor. “Our message to Washington is that we are not silenced, we are not afraid, and we stand together, determined to defeat this ongoing assault on our fundamental rights.”
In their legal complaint, Khalil’s attorneys accused the government of retaliating against him for his “constitutionally protected advocacy on behalf of Palestinian human rights.”
Typically, the government has to meet a higher bar to expel a person who has permanent residency in the U.S., like showing someone has been convicted of a serious crime.
Born in Syria to Palestinian parents, Khalil entered the U.S. to attend Columbia in 2022. He subsequently got married to an American citizen, who is now eight months pregnant.
Khalil emerged as one of the most visible activists in large protests at Columbia last year, serving as a mediator on behalf of pro-Palestinian activists and Muslim students. That role put him in direct touch with university leaders and the press — and drew attention from pro-Israel activists, who in recent weeks called on the Trump administration to deport him.
“He took a public facing role, and now he’s being targeted for speaking to the media,” another student protester, Maryam Alwan, told The Associated Press.
More recently, Khalil faced investigation by a new disciplinary body set up at Columbia University, which sent him a letter last month accusing him of potentially violating a new harassment policy by calling a school official a “genocidal dean” online.
Khalil told The Associated Press last week that he served as a spokesperson for protesters but did not play a leadership role.
“They are alleging that I was the leader of CUAD or the social media person, which is very far from reality,” he said, using the acronym for Columbia University Apartheid Divest.
Khalil received a master’s degree from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs last semester. He previously graduated from the Lebanese American University in Beirut with a computer science degree and worked at the British Embassy in Beirut’s Syria office, according to his biography on the Society for International Development’s website.
A few hundred protesters rallied near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Manhattan on Monday to demand Khalil’s release.
“By arresting Mahmoud, Trump thinks he can strip us of our rights and strip us of our commitment to our people,” Ibtihal Malley, a New York University student, told the crowd. “To that we say: You are wrong.”
Back on campus, Columbia sophomore Pearson Lund was among those who found the potential stripping of Khalil’s green card concerning.
“At what point does this process stop?” the physics student said as he entered campus through a security line guarded by city police officers.
Israel and its allies overplayed the use of antisemitism. From now on, as long as there is no violence towards anyone practicing Judaism or Islam, I will not hold my tongue when criticizing Israel, Jews, President Donald J. Trump, Vice President JD Vance, members of Congress, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, Zionism, colonialism, imperialism, slavery, racism, Christian nationalism and white supremacy.
Again, as long as there is no violence towards anyone practicing religious beliefs, there is no antisemitism when criticizing the Jews.
To clear up the AP's account of Oct. 7, the Israelis used the Hannibal Directive to massacre the settlers to prevent Hamas from taking IDF soliders. The IDF has used the weapons to kill settlers at a festival.
Hamas has been very clear on who they targeted. They targeted the IDF and the walls. They do not target civilians. Israel has exaggerated the way this went down.
They have used American weapons to kill settlers, doctors, humanitarian aid workers, UN peacekeepers and their own IDF soliders. Israel has killed Americans, British, German, Australian, Canadians and French citizens.
No investigations were carried out to why Israel targeted them.
Israel refuses to allow independent monitors into Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.
IDF soliders who refuse to carry out orders are often taken out by snipers.
The "hostages" were IDF soliders.
Israel has violated the ceasefire. They are planning on invading Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria. They have stopped humanitarian aid as Ramadan begins. They want the U.S. to start a war with Iran.
The supporters of former president Joe Biden and former vice president Kamala Harris are playing on this "We tried to warn you" nonsense. How can you morally stand on principles of being a progressive and back Israel?
First and foremost, Americans have a right to vote for whomever they chose.
Second, Harris failed to win over voters. She stuck with former president Joe Biden on the economy, Israel, Ukraine, immigration and inflation. The former president failed to listen to voters and his base.
The former president gave unilateral support and cover. We knew Trump would be worse. We demanded that Biden put pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel to stop killing and invading other countries.
That shows the "tone deafness" within the Democratic Party.
It is not Rep. Rashida Tlaib's (D-MI) fault for Biden and Harris' missteps. She warned them that Arab Americans did not like being ignored.
Those fucking hypocrites sat in silence as Israel is killing women and children.
They can fuck themselves.
Israel has killed Americans. No one was held accountable.
The killing of Rachel Corrie did not move George W. Bush to cut Israel loose.
The deaths of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, Tawfiq Abdel Jabbar, Mohammad Khdour, Omar Assad, Shireen Abu Akleh, Jacob Flickinger and Kamel Ahmad Jawad were never investigated by the U.S. Justice Department.
Mask off.
Resistance is not terrorism.
Occupation of oppressed people is not peace.
A two state solution is "separate but equal" and a de facto apartheid.
Telling other countries to take Palestinians is ethnic cleansing.
A sovereignty seizing land in a violent conflict is a war crime.
A violent attack on children throwing rocks at tanks is justified in the minds of those who support Israel.
Spitting and shoving Christians, Satanists, non Zionist Jews, Muslims and Hindus is considered a custom in Israel. How is this disgusting act justified?
The double standard in media coverage is the Israelis are hostages and the Palestinians are prisoners. Some of the Palestinians held in Israeli custody are children under the age of 14.
When Russia seized Ukrainian land and Crimea, the U.S. pushed for sanctions.
When Israel seized Lebanese and Syrian land, the U.S. recognized it as Israeli sovereignty. They have actively rejected sanctions imposed on Israel.
Hamas stated the reasons for the attack on occupation forces. It has nothing to do with the Jewish religion or Iran.
The IDF has the weapons to destroy everything. All on the American taxpayer, Israel has killed civilians, their own citizens and the status quo.
Holding these lawmakers accountable is not just a pledge, but a promise. You need to learn who represents your community. Your local community member, your school board member, your mayor, your state representative, your state senator, your governor, your U.S. Representative, your U.S. Senator and the president need to be held accountable for their actions.
Israel must be held accountable for war crimes and the U.S. must end its aid. Our taxpayer money should not help Israel any further.
Israel is the red line. If any lawmaker, entertainer, athlete or social media influncer backs the apartheid ethnostate, they will face a boycott.
Regardless of political affiliation, if you are supporting Israel, you are not getting donations or a vote from me.
I will hold President Donald J. Trump and Vice President JD Vance accountable.
The call number to the White House and U.S. Capitol is now going to be used. This is the official White House numbers 202-456-1111 and 202-456-1414. This is the Congress official phone number, 202-224-3121. Please be respectful to operators, staff members and elected leaders. Your calls are monitored by the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Capitol Police.
Let them know that "thoughts and prayers," "hearts going to", "illegal immigrants" and "good guys with guns" are no longer acceptable and you want legislation to focus on ending gun violence, lowering costs, improving healthcare and building relationships with other nations. Let them know that we are tired of police officers using immunity when committing death of suspects in custody. Let them know that you are tired of private equity firms getting away with destroying small businesses and long established companies. Let them know that you are tired of your taxpayer money going to foreign nations like Israel. You are tired of hearing about "Israel having a right to..." and the bogus claims of being anti-Semitic or in support of terrorism.
We have bigger issues at home and our tax dollars should solve the housing crisis, lowering food prices, fixing roads, bridges, helping reinvest in struggling urban and rural communities. We have hospitals closing, big box retailers leaving communities and television programs dying. There are bigger issues in the country than Israel. You want an immediate ceasefire and accountability for war crimes done by Israel. You want no more foreign influence in American elections. You also want to make sure future presidents and legislators avoid influence from lobbyists.
Republicans just can't fucking stay out of people's business.
I got a question for those affected by President Donald J. Trump or former president Joe Biden’s policies: Are you better now than you were when Barack Obama was president?
If you are a Muslim and you are always bombarded with calls to condemn terrorism, Hezbollah or Hamas, why should you pay your taxes?
If you are a former federal worker and now struggling, being forced to find employment to get unemployment or the safety net, why should you pay your taxes?
If you are transgender and are being harassed because you identify as human being and being punished for that, why should you pay your taxes?
If you are a college student and you felt the need to protest injustices in America or abroad and you were dismissed from campus, why should you pay your taxes?
A lot Republicans are slowly regretting the Trump policies.
But will it help Democrats?
No.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said it best, "Republicans sure love to get into everyone's business but their own." Damn shame he was criticized more than JD Vance.
Walz, known for shooting from the hip did some damage to former vice president Kamala Harris' presidential bid.
Vance, an insufferable human being is the results of Peter Thiel, Mike Huckabee and Israeli operatives. If you don't believe Israel got dirt on our politicians, then I got a desert to sell in Ohio.
Vance is the most gayest vice president in U.S. history. I am aware that he is married to Second Lady Usha Vance and has three children. But the dude is like Lindsey Graham.
Anyway, a Texas state representative is trying to criminalize being transgender or non confirming (non binary identified).
This clown who is super not gay..... wrote a bill that is somewhat likely to make it out of their committee.
This Texas state bill could charge transgender people with “gender identity fraud,” making it illegal to identify as trans on official documents and potentially leading to jail time.
The bill, which was filed last week by Republican state Rep. Tom Oliverson, would make it a state jail felony if a person “knowingly makes a false or misleading verbal or written statement” by identifying their sex assigned at birth incorrectly to a governmental entity or to their employer. State jail felonies in Texas are punishable by up to two years in jail and a fine of up to $10,000.
This Republican is not super gay. He just looks like it.
Oliverson did not immediately return a request for comment. So far, the bill has no other co-sponsors, making it unlikely to pass, the Houston Chronicle reported. However, the bill is among the first of its kind nationally and is an example of how legislation targeting trans people has become more clear in its intent and more extreme in recent years, particularly in Texas.
Last month, Texas state Rep. Brent Money, a Republican, filed a bill that would make it illegal for a health care provider to treat any patient, including adults, with puberty-suppressing medication, hormone therapy or surgeries if the purpose of the treatment is to affirm the patient’s gender identity.
Money’s bill is a replica of a law enacted in 2023 that prohibits such treatments for minors. The text of the new bill shows the word “child” struck out and replaced with “person” to apply to adults. The bill would also prohibit medical institutions from receiving public funds if they provide any such treatments.
Money did not immediately return a request for comment. After filing the bill, he said on X that the measure is intended to expand the law restricting care for minors.
“I want to make it clear that my heart goes out to those struggling with gender dysphoria,” he said, referring to the medical term for the severe emotional distress caused by the misalignment between one’s gender identity and birth sex. “These individuals deserve compassion, support, and real solutions to address their pain — not irreversible procedures that leave them scarred for life. This legislation isn’t about judgment; it’s about accountability.”
He added that the bill targets doctors and “medical profiteers” who “exploit vulnerable people, pushing costly surgeries and lifetime pharmaceuticals for financial gain rather than offering genuine care.”
However, most, if not all, major medical associations in the U.S. — including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association — support transition-related care for both minors and adults, and oppose restrictions on it.
Multiple studies have found that access to transition-related care, including surgeries for adults, improves mental health outcomes. Last year, the National Center for Transgender Equality, which is now called Advocates for Trans Equality, released the largest nationwide survey of the trans community, with more than 90,000 respondents, and found that 94% reported that they were at least a little more satisfied with their lives.
Texas has provided a blueprint over the last decade for states that have sought to restrict trans rights, becoming in 2017 one of the first states, alongside North Carolina, to consider a “bathroom bill,” which would’ve barred trans people from using the restrooms that align with their gender identities.
The bill didn’t pass, but the state has enacted other measures targeting trans people. In March 2022, after failing to pass a bill restricting transition-related care for minors, the state’s attorney general issued a legal opinion that resulted in the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services opening child abuse investigations into parents who were suspected of having provided such care to their minor children.
The state went on to pass a transition-related care restriction, and it has also enacted a measure barring trans student athletes from playing on school sports teams that align with their gender identities, among others. Additionally, the state recently announced that an executive order signed by President Donald Trump bars it from allowing trans people to update the gender marker on their Texas birth certificates, state IDs and driver’s licenses.
So far this year, Texas lawmakers have introduced nearly 170 state bills targeting LGBTQ people, according to Equality Texas, a state LGBTQ advocacy group. These include a new bathroom bill supported by a majority of the Texas House.
Justin Trudeau has officially signed off as the Prime Minister of Canada. Now he has selected his successor to lead Canadians through rough times. The tension between Canada, Russia, Israel and the United States has the Dominion at a crossroads.
Mark Carney, 59 is going to sworn in as the new Prime Minister. He will continue the policies of Trudeau and continued support of the apartheid ethnostate of Israel as well as the tense relationship with the neighbor of the South.
President Donald J. Trump will eventually call to congratulate Carney and continue to insult Trudeau as the Governor of the 51st state or whatever.
Y'all voted for this.
Y'all enabled this.
We all will suffer from this.
From a tiny town called Fort Smith, Northwest Territories to Edmonton to London, England and now to Ottawa.
He will now be expected to lead the party into the next federal elections – which must be held before October, but could be called much earlier – where he is likely to face stiff competition from the Conservative party, which is currently leading in the polls.
As with the Democratic Party in the U.S., Canada's Liberal Party is deeply unpopular. Wonder why?
Israel....
Most progressive Canadians and Americans despise tax dollars going to a genocide. Most are likely to vote for candidates that are not supportive of Israel.
While Carney will take over immediately as Liberal Party leader, Trudeau will remain as Canada’s prime minister for an as-yet undisclosed transitional period while his successor settles in.
One of the biggest issues in Carney’s immediate inbox will be the country’s souring relations with the United States.
Trump has repeatedly blamed Canada for illegal immigration into the U.S., threatened to turn Canada into a 51st state, and impose steep tariffs on Canadian imports, which the White House says is necessary to stem the flow of fentanyl over its borders.
Trudeau and Carney got seven months to turn things around.
In his first remarks following the result of the vote, Carney referenced the tensions with the U.S., saying his government would “create new trading relationships with reliable trading partners.” He also vowed to keep retaliatory tariffs on the US “until the Americans show us respect.”
“New threats demand new ideas and a new plan,” he told the Liberal Party convention on Sunday.
Slamming the Trump administration’s tariff plans, Carney said of the US president, “He’s attacking Canadian families, workers, and businesses and we cannot let him succeed and we won’t.”
“In trade as in hockey, Canada will win,” he added.
The ripple effects of the tense relations with the US have spread through Canadian society, with fans at NHL and NBA games in Canada even booing the US national anthem.
Carney will now face off with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who has previously been compared to Trump but now seeks to distance himself from the US leader, reiterating at a press conference earlier this week that he is “not MAGA.”
At a rally on Sunday ahead of the Liberal vote, Poilievre delivered scathing remarks about Carney, a former governor of both the Bank of England and Bank of Canada, portraying him as a leader ill-equipped to deal with Trump.
“Working for Trudeau, Carney made Canada weaker and poorer; working for himself Carney made the United States richer and stronger,” Poilievre said.
In his remarks following the results of the vote, Carney shot back at his conservative opponent.
“Donald Trump thinks he can weaken us with his plan to divide and conquer. Pierre Poilievre’s plan will leave us divided and ready to be conquered,” Carney said.
In recent weeks, the lead enjoyed by the Conservatives has narrowed as Trudeau, Carney and other Liberal Party figures have taken strong positions on the trade dispute with the US.
Trudeau has led the party for over a decade. He took the Liberals to power in 2015, promising “sunny ways” for Canada and was elected two more times, most recently in 2021, when he remained in power but lost his governing majority.
Chrystia Freeland resigned last year as the deputy prime minister. She is running for the job of prime minister. She has to overcome being in Trudeau's shadow and not end up like U.S. candidates Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris.
Trudeau’s impending departure follows a series of political crises, rising economic discontent and the surprise resignation of his deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland – who was also in the race to succeed him.
In some of his last remarks as Liberal Party leader, Trudeau warned Sunday that Canadians face an “existential challenge” from the US.
“This is a nation-defining moment,” he told the Liberal leadership convention in Ottawa, ahead of Carney being announced as his successor.
“And now, as Canadians face from our neighbor an existential challenge, an economic crisis, Canadians are showing exactly what we are made of,” Trudeau said.
Plans for tackling Trump
Carney started his career in finance and in 2019 he was appointed UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance. Drawing on his background, Carney has made clean energy, climate policies and economic prosperity for Canada some of the central facets of his campaign
Raised in Edmonton, Alberta, when launching his campaign, Carney highlighted his role in helping the government address its debt during the 2008 financial crisis – and his role in navigating Britain’s economy through Brexit.
Carney has zeroed in on bringing economic prosperity to Canada with the help of its natural resources like critical minerals and making Canada a leader in clean energy, stressing that being low-carbon will help Canada be more competitive. He has proposed shifting the financial burden of the carbon tax from consumers to big corporations and has said that under his leadership, the tax Canadian consumers and small businesses pay on fuel would be replaced with incentives to reduce carbon emissions.
Carney has not shied away from questions on how to tackle the Trump administration.
Since the U.S. tariffs were announced last month, Carney has been an outspoken proponent of dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs that would hit the U.S. hard but have minimal impact on Canada.
After Trump’s tariff announcement and accusations of fentanyl trafficking from Canada into the U.S., Carney told CNN last month he was “offended” given Canada’s long friendship with the U.S.
“We are a proud, independent nation. We view ourselves as the greatest country on Earth. We have been insulted on multiple occasions by senior members of the administration. We are not going to reciprocate in those insults.”
