The Brew: U. Penn Prez Steps Down After Stepping In It With ‘Genocide’ Comments
Happy Monday! Itβs two weeks to Christmas! Or for some, scrambling to buy gifts or prepare the house for family and friends, βItβs only two weeks to Christmas?!?!?!β
We’d better rush. First up, a major update on a story weβve been following.
Univ. of Pennsylvania President Resigns After Dreadful Testimony Where She Couldnβt Condemn Calls for Genocide Against Jews
βOne down, two to go,β says Rep. Elise Stefanik.
University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned Saturday, just days after offering dreadful testimony where she refused to say whether students calling for the genocide of Jews violates Pennβs rules or codes of conduct. (The presidents of Harvard and MIT also wouldnβt answer.) “If the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment, yes,” Magill responded. When pressed she added, “It is a context-dependent decision.” When an astonished Stefanik repeated the question just to be clear what Magill was saying, Magill still dodged.
Faced with outrage, and donors pulling out tens of millions in endowments, Magill tried to backpedal. But the damage was done. Magill resigned β¦ soon followed by the Chairman of the schoolβs Board of Regents Scot Bok.
How much harm did Magill do to Penn? Sheβs changing her name to Dylan Mulvaney.
Please Support The Stream: Equipping Christians to Think Clearly About the Political, Economic, and Moral Issues of Our Day.
Meanwhile, Saturday Night Live hit a new low. Their cold open was a spoof of the hearing where the three university presidents refused to say if calling for the genocide of the Jews violated school speech codes. Instead, of mocking the Three Unwise Ladies, Saturday Night Live decided instead to target GOP Rep. Stefanik. What’s in store for next week’s show? “Holiday Tips from Hamas”?
Babylon Bee editor-in-chief Kyle Mann declared, βItβs actually pretty incredible how this skit featured liberals being unwilling to call genocide bad – and they WEREN’T the punchline of the joke. Just shows how unfunny you can get if you’re unwilling to make fun of people on your side.β
Its actually pretty incredible how this skit featured liberals being unwilling to call genocide bad – and they WEREN'T the punchline of the joke. Just shows how unfunny you can get if you're unwilling to make fun of people on your side. https://t.co/TB4lF9CrE2
— Kyle Mann (@The_Kyle_Mann) December 10, 2023
Spielberg Launches Effort to Gather Testimonies from Survivors of Oct 7
Schindlerβs List director Steven Spielberg has finally spoken out on the Oct. 7 terrorist attack against Israel. “I never imagined I would see such unspeakable barbarity against Jews in my lifetime,” he said in a feature for his Shoah Foundation. Spielberg announced. According to The Wrap, Spielberg also announced the launch of the Countering Antisemitism Through Testimony Collection initiative. Itβll be collecting testimonies from survivors from the attacks launched by Hamas, just as heβs been collecting stories from the survivors of the Holocaust since 1994.
Huh? 50-Year-Old Dude Allowed to Compete Against Young Girls β¦ and Share Locker Room
Nicholas Cepeda is a 50-year-old Canadian man. However, he βidentifiesβ β¦ not as a woman, but a teenage girl named Melody Wiseheart. And astonishingly, he was allowed to compete in a swimming competition against girls 8 to 16 in a Swimming Canada-sanctioned event December 1st. Worse, he was allowed to change in the womenβs locker room with the girls. βThe girls were terrified,β a parent told the Toronto Sun.
The Post Millennial reports Swim Ontario is perfectly fine with a middle-aged man competing against and stripping in front of little girls. They offer the usual blather about being βsafe, welcoming and inclusive.β (Well, not safe if youβre a little girl exposed to behavior that would have landed the perp hard time mere years ago.) The competitions are open “people of all shapes, sizes, genders, beliefs and backgrounds should have the opportunity to swim to the best of their abilityβ¦ with the expectation that our registrants treat each other with respect and dignity, and keep our sport environment free from harassment and abuse” and “this would include not targeting members of our community based on assumptions about their identity.”
In other words, complaining about some 50 year-old guy in your young daughterβs locker room makes him the victim.
Meanwhile, you hear about the boy who won a girlsβ Irish dancing competition? Read it HERE.
Gotta Get a New Conspiracy Theory for Christmas
Seems like another crazy-sounding conspiracy theory has bit the dust. Supposedly there wasnβt enough tin foil in the world to cover the minds of those saying pedophiles were using βpizzaβ and pizza-connected slag to cover their wicked ways. Remember #PizzaGate? Well β¦ the state of New Mexico is suing Mark Zuckerberg, Meta and all its subsidiaries, alleging Facebook and Instagram are a breeding ground for predators who target children for human trafficking, the distribution of sexual images, grooming, and solicitation.β According to the suit, Meta via its recommendation algorithm, serves sexually explicit material to children and enables adults to find, groom and solicit children. The company has been repeatedly warned for years, but has βfailed to stem the tide of damaging sexual material and sexual propositions delivered to children.”
The suit details how βpizza,β βcheese pizzaβ (for child pornography) and pizza emoji have been used to communicate, and when Instagram blocked emoji for βcheese pizzaβ another pizza connected phrase quickly took its place.
Along The Stream
Our Nancy Flory tells the story of how βPuerto Rican Rapper Daddy Yankee Tells Audience Heβs Retiring to Live for Jesus.β
Coming up at 9 eastern, Stream Contributor Mark Judge interviews scholar Robert Spencer about his fascinating new book Empire of God: How the Byzantines Saved Civilization.
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.