Happy Friday!

Today’s Brew comes with a hearty thanks to the Streamers who attended last night’s LOI Christmas Banquet. So glad to meet such gracious folks with such a love of our country. You Streamers really are a classy bunch. And clean up nice.

Let’s get pouring.

University Presidents Do Dramatic About-Face After Being Incapable of Condemning Calls for Genocide

I have a confession. I have a terrible time with yes or no questions. Give me a yes or no question and I’ll come up with a dozen reasons why an obvious Yes might be a No. “Is the sky blue?” “Well, right now it’s gray. And it depends on where you are. Sky might be blue here, but it’s still night in California. And the sky was red yesterday morning and sailors took warning.” Drives my wife crazy.

However, some questions even I can answer with a simple “Yes.” Like, “Does calling for the genocide of the Jewish people violate campus speech codes?” Unfortunately, the presidents of Harvard, University of Pennsylvania and MIT failed that test miserably this week during testimony on Capitol Hill. They flustered, fumbled and filibustered the question repeatedly. Insisting it was a “context-dependent decision.” It’s not as if the question were unexpected. After all, it was a hearing on antisemitism on campus.

The shock and outrage over these top university heads failing to condemn campus calls for genocide was so overwhelming, the trio is now sprinting to backtrack.

Harvard President Pauline Gay put out a statement on X: “There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students. Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account.”

A far cry from Tuesday, when she adamantly refused to answer whether the pro-Hamas students calling for genocide were violating school policies against bullying and harassment. “When speech crosses into conduct, we take action.” So someone calling for killing all Jews has to actually kill a Jew for Harvard to act? Really?! However, use the wrong personal pronoun or fat-shame someone and … bam, your butt is back to Poughkeepsie. (Thanks to Libs of Tik Tok for finding this)

By the way, notice there’s no apology in Gay’s statement. In fact, she’s putting the blame on others who are “confused” by her testimony. No confusion, lady.

Univ. of Penn President Backtracks as Well

Similarly, no apology, but University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill is backpedaling as well. Magill claims she had been “focused on our university’s long-standing policies aligned with the U.S. Constitution, which says that speech alone is not punishable. I was not focused on, but I should have been, on the irrefutable fact that a call for genocide of Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate. It is evil, plain and simple.”

Magill is now saying that calling for genocide would be classified as harassment or intimidation. A far cry from Tuesday when she said it would “depend on the context.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik isn’t buying what Magill is selling.

This pathetic PR clean up attempt by @Penn shockingly took over 24 hours to try to fix the moral depravity of the answers under oath yesterday. And there was not even an apology. By the way, the questions were asked over and over and over again. No statement will fix what the… https://t.co/eETggoBWsl

— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) December 7, 2023

A Quick Hand of Campaign Trail Mix

Trump Mocks Media Talking Point That He’ll Be a Dictator if Elected Again

Donald Trump was asked by Sean Hannity Tuesday night to answer to the new media and Democratic talking point that he would become a dictator if elected again. Trump trolled his critics by answering, “Only on day one.” And the media bit. “Trump declines to rule out abusing power if he returns to the White House,” warned AP. “Trump will be a dictator on day one and every day thereafter,” whined New Republic. “Trump raises new alarms, saying he won’t be a ‘dictator’ except on ‘Day One’” screamed ABC News. And on and on.

Scott Adams speculated that Trump is laying a trap.

It's starting to look as if Trump is executing a "narrow ravine" persuasion strategy.

Step one (the narrow ravine):

Make it easy for Democrats to focus all their energy on their oh-so-clever "He's going to be a dictator!" framing. Get them all-in.

Step two (the mockery):… https://t.co/Q1v9qDCOvc

— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) December 7, 2023

On a more serious note, Trump predicted, “I don’t think he (Joe Biden) makes it” to the election and won’t be the nominee.

Biden Says He Doesn’t Think He’d Be Running if Trump Wasn’t Running

Biden didn’t help his cause Tuesday night. Remember the famous line from the movie Brokeback Mountain? “I can’t quit you”? Meet the sequel, Brokeback Nation, starring Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Joe Biden admitted at a Tuesday fundraiser that “I’m not sure I’d be running” for re-election if Trump wasn’t running.

It takes a lot to run for president and bear the burden of the office. If your motive for running is the other guy, and not the 315 million other Americans, you’re just not going to have the juice to go all the way.

Report: Melania Wants Trump to Pick Tucker as His VP

Melania Trump wants her husband to pick Tucker Carlson as his VP, Axios is reporting. Good idea? Or would the liberal heads exploding create too much of a mess? The Axios article is almost as funny as a Babylon Bee. Trump wants people loyal to his vision in the White House, and not people like those in the first term who sabotaged him?! Oh, the horror! Seriously, isn’t that what any president would want? I mean, is it a good thing that in the Biden White House even the interns are rebelling against the Chief Executive?

The 4th GOP Debate

We’ve got “11 Key Takeaways from the 4th GOP Presidential Debate.” They left off the 12th. Megyn Kelly should become to presidential debates what Johnny Carson was to the Oscars.

Megyn was lead moderator. Kudos to her for calling out Chris Christie’s lack of interest in stopping the mutilation of children via “gender affirming care.”

Speaking of which …

Taylor Swift May Be “Person of the Year,” But Who’s the “Woman of the Year”?

Let’s not be crabby like The Federalist and call Taylor Swift the “Most Insufferable Woman in America” in light of her being named Time’s “Person of the Year.” But is she a woman who long term will have the greatest impact on our society? Two other young women immediately come to mind.

Riley Gaines is fighting to protect women in sports, in essence, fighting to protect womanhood. Yeah, Swift had an item thrown at her during a concert this year. Gaines was basically kidnapped by LGBTQ activists during a campus appearance. But she was able to “Shake It Off” and keep up the fight.

Another woman whose long-term impact will be staggering: Detransitioner-turned-activist Chloe Cole. It’d be nice if she got a fraction of the press Swift gets. Perhaps she should date an NFL star … then break up and write a hit song about it. But Chloe has more serious business at hand. Cole is working hard to expose the fallacy, the lunacy, the destructiveness of the “gender transition for minors” industry/cult. Celebrating that cult is now a Democratic talking point.

Unlike Republicans, we stand with trans kids across the country.pic.twitter.com/5A9fQQfD7m

— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) December 7, 2023

How many young girls and boys will Chloe’s efforts save by stepping into the gap? Swift may get a bad review here and there, but is she having drag queens mock her, taunt her?

Having a drag queen taunting me with his nasty fake breasts is so incredibly tone deaf considering they’re protesting my experience getting my breasts chopped off. Really helps their case… pic.twitter.com/oehm2xv1dl

— Chloe Cole ⭐️ (@ChoooCole) December 7, 2023

Yeah, Taylor Swift can fill a stadium and pick a mean banjo. But Gaines and Cole are helping heal a rip in the very fabric of reality.

Along The Stream

Just up: the provocative “Was Eve the First Transgender Female?”

 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream, co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and co-author of the counter-terrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.