Midwest
Kamala Harris’ Israel smear is a gamble that could cost her an all-important swing state
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Vice President Kamala Harris might have just sealed her fate in Pennsylvania — just not in the way she intended.
After publicly agreeing with a heckler accusing Israel of genocide, the vice president signaled a desperate attempt to placate Arab American voters in a state where discontent with Democrats’ support of Israel has been growing and is likely irreversible. And in doing so, Harris continued to alienate another key demographic: Jewish voters. And it’s in Pennsylvania where she may pay the ultimate price.
At a campaign event in Wisconsin, a heckler yelled at Harris about Israel’s alleged war crimes, and Harris responded by saying, “What he’s talking about, it’s real.” The remark didn’t come off as an off-the-cuff response, but an affirmation of a false narrative designed to appease unhappy Arab American voters.
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Her campaign only walked the statement back after her calculated response gained too much attention. But it wasn’t before it became the latest in a series of signals that the Democratic Party, once seen as a strong ally of Israel, is shifting under the weight of progressive voices who reject the Jewish state.
Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, sits with former Rep. Liz Cheney for a town hall with Maria Shriver at the Royal Oak Music Theatre on October 21, 2024, in Royal Oak, Michigan, United States. (Photo by Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
Harris, clearly aware that Michigan’s Arab American community has been growing increasingly frustrated with the Biden administration’s stance on Israel, is trying to walk a political tightrope. Michigan has one of the largest Arab American populations in the country, and in a race that could be won by a very small percentage of votes, this voting bloc yields power.
But it’s impossible to pacify this base without accusing Israel of genocide and Harris is already behind in Michigan. Former President Donald Trump is gaining momentum at the right time, making Harris’ chances of winning Michigan exceedingly slim — even with her appeasement strategy.
If placating Arab voters in Michigan is unlikely to land, what’s the cost? It’s Jewish voters in Pennsylvania and they could be a deciding factor. Harris is already struggling in Pennsylvania, a state more crucial than Michigan if she hopes to take the White House. Jewish voters in Pennsylvania, especially in the suburban regions around Philadelphia, have traditionally been a strong Democratic bloc. But there are signs of movement away from the party, and Harris’s recent comments may accelerate that shift.
“The family that is my generation and older generations, I don’t think anybody is voting for Harris, and we’ve never voted Republican, ever,” 49-year-old Pittsburgh resident Rona Kaufman told the AP. “My sister has a Trump sign outside her house, and that is a huge shift.”
Enter Dave McCormick. The Republican candidate running for Senate in Pennsylvania has been strategically courting Jewish voters. He’s tapped into the growing discontent with the Democratic Party’s shifting stance on Israel, positioning himself as a staunch defender of the U.S.-Israel alliance. McCormick has made repeated visits to synagogues, hosted events specifically for the Jewish community, and is clearly hoping to capitalize on the kind of rhetoric Harris just embraced and amplified.
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It’s not just McCormick, either. Across the country, Republicans have been making inroads with Jewish voters who rightly feel abandoned by a Democratic Party that seems willing to bend further and further toward anti-Israel progressivism. And it doesn’t take much to tip the scales.
In tight races like the ones expected in Pennsylvania and Michigan, even a small shift in voter demographics can make a significant difference, especially when you see other demographics traditionally loyal to Democrats (Latinos and Black men) drifting to Trump.
It didn’t help that Harris passed on a stronger vice-presidential choice of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro for a Minnesota knucklehead. If Jewish voters who traditionally support Democrats move even slightly toward the GOP — let’s say 5% — that could be enough to swing key counties and potentially the state.
But it’s impossible to pacify this base without accusing Israel of genocide and Harris is already behind in Michigan. Former President Donald Trump is gaining momentum at the right time, making Harris’ chances of winning Michigan exceedingly slim — even with her appeasement strategy.
This isn’t happening in a vacuum. A recent Pew Research survey showed that while Jewish voters still overwhelmingly support Democrats, their support for Republicans has been steadily growing, with more Jews viewing Trump as pro-Israel than they do the Democratic Party.
A Siena College poll in September even found Trump with a 10-point lead over Harris with Jewish voters. While that’s since shifted to Harris, it’s unclear if that’s due to a sampling anomaly, and it signals there’s clearly some movement toward Trump, especially with a new Manhattan Institute poll showing Jewish support for a Democrat presidential nominee is the lowest it’s been since the Ronald Reagan era.
The electoral map is unforgiving, and Pennsylvania is a make-or-break state for Harris where every percentage point counts. If Jewish voters decide to punish the Democrats for their lack of support for Israel and embrace of antisemitic voices within their party, it could be the nail in the coffin for Harris’s presidential ambitions.
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Midwest
University of Illinois lesson materials push leftist race, class struggles on future teachers: leaked lectures
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EXCLUSIVE: More leaked PowerPoint lectures from a first-year University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign class show left-wing ideology woven into the fabric of the course.
Fox News Digital obtained course material from weeks six and nine of EDUC 201, “Identity and Difference in Education,” from a concerned student. The course is taken by future teachers, and is part of the university’s education department.
Week nine’s lecture is titled “Cultivating Belonging.”
“Recent data indicate that close to 40% of US high school students do not feel connected to school. This sense of alienation is particularly acute among students facing racism, LGBTQ+ students, and students with disabilities. Evidence points to curricular and school structures that fail to engage many students as a primary reason students reject schooling that devalues them, as opposed to rejecting school,” says a slide early in the presentation, quoting a paper from the Aspen Institute.
A slide from a first semester 2025 lecture in an education course at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign teaches about “cultivating belonging.” (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
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The key to teaching about belonging, according to the presentation, is intersectionality.
“When talking about belonging it’s important to consider if we’re asking students to conform to norms that don’t reflect their bodies of knowledge (e.g., assimilation, erasure) or are we thinking about belonging in culturally relevant and intersectional ways?” asks a slide that is part of the lecture.
Another slide is called “Erasure of Racially Minoritized Students.” The entire slide is simply a quote from a person named Xóchitl, identified as a ninth grader at Shields High School.
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“When you’re with your Mexican friends some white people don’t acknowledge you when you’re in the hallways, and you see someone that you know and it’s like they’re with their white friends, they don’t see you, but when you’re playing sports, they know you’re there,” Xóchitl’s quote says. “They start talking to you differently than when they talk to you outside of sports.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the course’s professor, Gabriel Rodriguez, for clarification on the origin of the quote. He did not return a request for comment.
Slide 14 of the lecture features a three-minute video from Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D., published by The Root, a news outlet whose tagline is “Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude.”
A slide from an October 2025 education course lecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign features a video of author Beverly Daniel Tatum. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
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Tatum is the author of “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” The book is a national bestseller. Tatum’s video is titled, “Why the Black Kids Still Sit Together.”
“We’re all influenced by race and racism in our society,” said Tatum in the video. Tatum is also the president emerita of Spelman College, a historically Black college in Atlanta.
“If you’re growing up as a young person of color in the society, part of that experience is to get messages from the wider world about who you are racially, and how people are responding to that,” she said.
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Tatum later brings up segregation.
“Residential segregation and school segregation go together across,” she said. “And to the extent that the schools and the neighborhoods are segregated, it means that the social networks that help you find employment, that help you access higher education, that help you move up the economic ladder, are more limited — and that’s a problem.”
A University of Illinois entry sign in Champaign, Illinois. The University of Illinois is a state university in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. It offers teaching and research programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels to over 56,000 students. (Don and Melinda Crawford/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
“We are still dealing with racial hierarchies,” Tatum continued. “We’re still dealing with white supremacy. We’re still dealing with the kind of systematic racism that impacts communities of color.”
Toward the end of the lecture, a slide instructs the future educators on how to cultivate belonging.
“Affirming and accepting students for all their complexities – particularly for students with minoritized identities,” says one point.
“Embracing and implementing culturally relevant teaching practices that reflect students’ identities,” is another.
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Week six’s lecture is called “Understanding the role of class in educational inequality,” and begins with a list of the top high schools in Illinois.
It then discusses stereotypes of rural, suburban and urban schools, noting that rural schools are often thought of as “poor” and white, suburban schools are often thought of as “resource rich” and white, and that urban schools are often thought of as “dysfunctional” and “composed by students of color.”
A slide from a lecture from September 2025 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign focuses on stereotypes about schools. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
“Class inequality is increasing and part of everyday life in these contexts,” says the next slide, followed by another slide quoting the author of a book called “Radical Possibilities: Public policy, urban education, and a new social movement,” which says the federal government plays a “proactive” role in maintaining the poverty of families and neighborhoods where schools are “poorly funded, staffed, and resourced…”
A concept called “Opportunity Hoarding,” defined as “the process through which dominant groups who have control over some good (e.g., education) regulate its circulation, thus preventing out-groups from having full access to it,” is a major focus of the lesson.
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According to the slides, that definition is derived from a 2015 book by Amanda Lewis and John Diamond, called “Despite the best intentions: How racial inequality thrives in good schools.”
“Opportunity hoarding, such as fundraising efforts of middle- and upper-middle class parents to support school programming exacerbate existing resource gaps between schools,” one lecture slide says.
A slide from a September 2025 lecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign focuses on “opportunity hoarding.” (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
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“Opportunity hoarding, such as resistance from middle- and upper-middle class parents to de-track or to create open access to honors/AP courses lessens educational opportunities for low-income students,” says another.
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign did not return a request for comment.
Lectures focus on racism, white supremacy and cultivating belonging for ‘minoritized’ students
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Detroit, MI
Detroit Sandwich Week is arriving: What local restaurants are doing
7-Eleven’s Japanese-style egg salad gets a taste test from food writer
Free Press food writer Susan Selasky tries out the new 7-Eleven Japanese Style Egg Salad sandwich.
After Thursday’s Christmas holiday, it’s time to get ready for what’s become an annual tasty Detroit event.
This Friday starts the week sandwiched between Christmas and New Year’s.
And in Detroit, that means it’s time to get ready for what’s become a Detroit tradition, founded by a Detroiter: Detroit Sandwich Week.
The annual Detroit Sandwich Week celebrates five days and seven events of sandwiches at local restaurants.
It’s been a dozen years since local sandwich and overall food enthusiast Carlos Parisi came up with the idea of Detroit Sandwich Week to help support local businesses during a slow time.
Doing so also allowed Parisi to take sandwiches to another level.
“It’s beautiful because what Sandwich Week has done is given me a chance and an opportunity to do so much more,” Parisi said. “I started a podcast and was able to host TV shows and now the sandwich party, the Detroit sandwich party, which is insanely successful. It all stems from sandwich week.”
Parisi is also the owner and founder of Aunt Nee’s, whose products include Detroit-made tortilla chips, salsa and guacamole sold at Eastern Market and several metro Detroit stores.
Detroit Sandwich Week started out while Parisi worked at a corporate job. During the holiday season, Parisi and others were able to take longer lunch hours and got the idea to help support local businesses during the period between Christmas and New Year’s.
While over the years the event grew, it’s stayed true to its mission of supporting local businesses. Each year, the event typically draws hundreds of people to stop in a select group of sandwich shops.
Parisi said that while Sandwich Week was something he first started with friends, it’s now taken on a life of its own.
“It’s really cool because in the lexicon of Detroit, you hear other people say sandwich week,” he said. “That’s so amazing because we know that what that means is, it’s the week between the two holidays where we go and support small business. And celebrate it by eating sandwiches.”
Events this year include a ticketed dinner and the final Detroit Sandwich Week party.
This year’s Detroit Sandwich Week kicks off noon-3 p.m. Friday at Mudgie’s Deli & Wine Shop on Brooklyn Street in Corktown.
Founded by the late Greg Mudge, the famed Corktown spot is known for its hearty sandwiches piled with fresh-cut meats and cheese, soups and its wine shop. Mudge, who died in September 2021, name is now officially on a secondary street sign above the Brooklyn Street sign in Corktown.
Other sandwich stops are:
- Vesper, 5001 Grand River Ave., Detroit, noon-3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 27. A wine bar and cookbook store, Vesper is in a former bank building in Detroit’s Core City. Ayiti Spaghetti, a pop-up, joins Vesper.
- Ladder 4 Wine Bar, noon-3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 28. Located in a Detroit neighborhood, Ladder 4 Wine Bar is in a restored former 1910 Detroit Fire Department house. In 2023, Ladder 4 Wine Bar was named the Detroit Free Press/Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers Restaurant of the Year.
- Dakota Inn Rathskeller, 6 p.m.-8 p.m. on Dec. 28. Featuring a 15-foot sandwich, this ticketed event takes place in the basement of the 90-plus-year-old Dakota Inn on John R. Tickets, available through a link on the Detroit Sandwich Party Instagram page, are $65 each. They include access to the sandwich, sides and two drinks. A cash bar is available.
- Rocco’s Italian Deli, 3627 Cass Ave., Detroit, noon, Dec. 29. This Midtown deli is known not only for deli sandwiches, but cocktails, specialty wines, cured meats, cheeses and olives.
- Tall Trees Café, 817 Livernois, Ferndale, noon Dec. 30. Tall Trees Café is a sandwich shop and lunch counter.
- Batch Brewing, 1400 Porter Street. On Dec. 30, a sandwich party starts at 6 p.m., and there’s a raffle with merch, gift cards and other items at 7 p.m. at the Corktown brewery.
Aside from the above specific events, places like Bev’s Bagels in Detroit’s Core City, Gonella’s in southwest Detroit, Last Chance Saloon and Pietrzyk Pierogi are participating with special sandwiches during the week.
Parisi also founded Detroit Sandwich Party, which once again drew thousands for last September’s event, its second, at Eastern Market. The sandwich festival is taking place again this year at Eastern Market and pays homage to the humble sandwich, featuring lots and lots of sandwiches, plus music and drinks. Parisi said he expects the event to be bigger this year.
Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter. Subscribe to the Free Press. Subscribe to the Eat Drink Freep newsletter for insider scoops on food and dining in metro Detroit.
Milwaukee, WI
16 music and theater performances to see in Milwaukee in January 2026
Meet Jennifer Bouton, Milwaukee Symphony piccoloist and flutist
Meet Jennifer Bouton, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra piccoloist and flutist. She’s trying to raise the profile of the little instrument.
During the performing arts season, arts editor Jim Higgins recommends promising music, dance and theater productions to see in the coming month. Look for these stories in the newspaper the final Sunday of the month. They post online the preceding week at jsonline.com/entertainment/arts.
In Milwaukee’s performing arts scene, the first month of 2026 brings the return of the 21st century’s revolutionary musical, plus a new stage work about Wisconsin artist Mary Nohl.
Also, it’s a good month for Mozart, both in the concert hall and on stage.
Here are 16 theater, music and dance performances you can enjoy in the Milwaukee area in January. I would never tell you that these are the only shows worth seeing here during that time period.
‘The Godfather,’ Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
Associate conductor Ryan Tani leads the MSO in performing Nino Rota’s Oscar-nominated score live to screenings of Francis Ford Coppola’s classic American film. 7:30 p.m. Jan. 2-3. Bradley Symphony Center, 212 W. Wisconsin Ave. Visit mso.org or call (414) 291-7605.
‘Cardboard Piano,” Renaissance Theaterworks
Hansol Jung’s drama, which opens in war-ravaged Uganda in 1999, takes on compelling conflicts about faith and homophobia. Jan. 9-Feb. 1, 255 S. Water St. Visit rtwmke.org or call (414) 278-0765.
‘The Fisherman’s Daughters,’ Milwaukee Repertory Theater
In singer-songwriter Katie Dahl’s musical, set in Door County, two sisters fight the state of Wisconsin’s attempt to take their land by eminent domain. Milwaukee Rep says this show is recommended for people 10 years and older. Jan. 9-March 1, Stackner Cabaret, 108 E. Wells St. Visit milwaukeerep.com or call (414) 224-9490.
‘Celtic Throne II – Psalter of Ireland,” Marcus Performing Arts Center
This all-ages Irish dance, music and theater show is built around the story of the mythological lawgiver Ollav Fola. 7 p.m. Jan. 15, Marcus Performing Arts Center, 929 N. Water St. Visit marcuscenter.org or call (414) 273-7206.
‘The Lehman Trilogy,’ Milwaukee Repertory Theater
The Rep’s second fully staged production in the upgraded Checota Powerhouse Theater is an epic story of immigration, economic ascension and financial collapse, running an estimated 3 hours and 40 minutes with two intermissions. It’s coming to Milwaukee from Minnesota’s Guthrie Theater. Jan. 13-Feb. 8, Checota Powerhouse Theater, 108 E. Wells St. Visit milwaukeerep.com or call (414) 224-9490.
‘Maybe We’ll Fly,” Milwaukee Opera Theatre
Milwaukee Opera Theatre is presenting staged readings of a new play by Wisconsin playwright Marie Kohler with music by composer Josh Schmidt. Subject: the life and passion to create of Mary Nohl (1914-2001), who transformed her Fox Point cottage and yard into an artistic environment. 6:30 p.m. Jan. 16, 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. Jan. 17, Florentine Leuders Opera Center, 926 E. Burleigh St. Visit milwaukeeoperatheatre.org.
‘Folk Songs,’ Trio Mediæval
Early Music Now presents this Norway-based vocal ensemble, in a concert of Norwegian and Scandinavian songs, including lullabies and tales of courtly love. 5 p.m. Jan. 17, St. Joseph Chapel, 1515 S. Layton Blvd. Visit earlymusicnow.org or (414) 225-3113.
‘Hamilton,’ Marcus Performing Arts Center
The 21st century’s most popular musical returns for its third visit to Milwaukee; it was last here in 2021, when Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop-infused look at the Founding Fathers reopened the Marcus Performing Arts Center following the pandemic lockdown year. Sixteen performances are scheduled for Jan. 20-Feb. 1 at MPAC, 929 N. Water St. Visit marcuscenter.org or call (414) 273-7206.
‘Amadeus,’ Skylight Opera Theatre
Peter Shaffer’s play pits Mozart, genius composer but vulgar human being, against his more ordinary rival Salieri. Skylight’s production will include a live chamber orchestra. Matt Daniels, Milwaukee Rep’s Scrooge, takes on the key role of Salieri. Jan. 23-Feb. 8, Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway. Visit skylightmusictheatre.org or call (414) 291-7800.
Kerson Leong and Bernard Labadie, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
Soloist Leong performs Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, one of the peaks of violin repertoire. Guest conductor Labadie leads the orchestra in Hadyn’s Symphony No. 103 (“Drumroll”). 7:30 p.m. Jan. 23-24, Bradley Symphony Center. Visit mso.org or call (414) 291-7605.
‘I Am My Own Wife,’ Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
Doug Wright’s one-actor play won both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony Award for best play in 2004. In Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s new production, Jonathan Riker will perform all the characters in this story of famed German transgender figure Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. Jan. 23-Feb. 8, Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway. Visit milwaukeechambertheatre.org or call (414) 291-7800.
‘Baroque Unbound’ Frankly Music
Harpsichodist Paolo Bordignon and piccoloist Jennifer Bouton join violinist Frank Almond and other musicians to perform music of the Baroque era by Vivaldi, Bach and other composers. 7 p.m. Jan. 26, Wisconsin Lutheran College Schwan Concert Hall, 8815 W. Wisconsin Ave., Wauwatosa. Visit franklymusic.org.
‘Encore,’ Milwaukee Ballet
Milwaukee Ballet performs a program of classical and contemporary dance in its intimate We Energies Performance Studio, a 172-seat venue. Jan. 30-Feb. 8, Baumgartner Center for Dance, 128 N. Jackson St. Visit milwaukeeballet.org or call (414) 902-2103.
‘Hellenika,’ Marcus Performing Arts Center
Playwright-composer Kyle Thomas Hanneken has been working for seven years on this large-scale musical about the Greek philosopher Socrates, his teacher Aspasia and the fate of democracy in Athens. While these performances are billed as public readings rather than a fully staged production, this is a big show with 20 performers and 30 songs. 7 p.m. Jan. 30-31, Marcus Performing Arts Center, 929 N. Water St. Visit marcuscenter.org or call (414) 273-7206.
Stephen Hough, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
Pianist Hough, a MacArthur “genius grant” awardee who’s also a composer and a significant writer about music, visits the MSO to perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, which movie buffs know from its use in “Elvira Madigan” (1967). Guest conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni leads a program that includes Mozart’s “Prague” Symphony and works by Ligeti and Kodály. 7:30 p.m. Jan. 31-Feb. 1, Bradley Symphony Center. Visit mso.org or call (414) 291-7605.
Julian Lage, Wilson Center for the Arts
A former child prodigy, Lage is a leading contemporary jazz guitarist and composer. His performance was rescheduled to this date from a previously planned summer concert here. 7:30 p.m. Jan. 31, Wilson Center for the Arts, 3270 Mitchell Park Drive, Brookfield. Visit wilson-center.com or call (262) 781-9520.
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