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Biden once ripped 'antisemitic bile' but now faces own 'Charlottesville moment'
President Biden cast the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, and his framing of former President Trump’s response, as the impetus for his 2020 White House run – but Biden now faces his own “Charlottesville moment.”
Biden has repeatedly and emphatically condemned the riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 for spewing “antisemitic bile,” even saying the protests motivated his run for the White House last election cycle.
“In that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I had ever seen in my lifetime,” Biden said in 2019 of the riots when announcing his run for the White House against then-President Trump.
Flash forward to 2024, antisemitism is running rampant on the campuses of some of the country’s most elite universities, including protesters on Columbia’s campus saying Jewish students were Hamas’ “next targets” amid ongoing protests.
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President Biden speaks to the National Action Network convention remotely from the South Court Auditorium of the White House, April 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
“Al-Qassam you make us proud, kill another soldier now,” protesters on the Ivy League campus chanted over the weekend, referring to the military wing of the terrorist organization Hamas.
They also chanted: “We say justice, you say how. Burn Tel Aviv to the ground” and “Hamas we love you. We support your rockets, too.”
The protests in Charlottesville in 2017, which played out across two days in August of that year, included White nationalists descending on the city who were met by hundreds of counter-protesters. The protests devolved into violence, including three deaths and dozens of injuries stemming from a car plowing through people and other attacks.
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The protests were condemned by both Republicans and Democrats as a hateful display of bigotry, including Trump at the time, who said in a statement that such protests and violence have “no place in America.”
Anti-Israel agitators construct an encampment on Columbia University’s campus in New York City on Monday, April 22, 2024. (Peter Gerber for Fox News Digital)
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides,” Trump said in August of that year. Trump added days later in a press conference that he condemned the “egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence” and came under fire from Democrats for his remarks that there was “blame on both sides” and “very fine people, on both sides.”
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Former President Trump at a rally in Arizona. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Biden pointed to Trump’s comments as helping motivate him to run for the presidency.
“With those words, the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it,” Biden said in 2019 when announcing his candidacy.
Anti-Israel protesters demonstrate outside of Columbia University’s campus in New York City on Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Peter Gerber for Fox News Digital)
Biden has repeatedly pointed to Charlottesville as a moment of shame for the nation, including on the fourth anniversary, when the White House released a statement saying the rally was a “battle for the soul of America was laid bare for all to see.”
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“The forces of hate and violence were summoned from the shadows as Neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and white supremacists descended on a historic American city. With torches in their hands and veins bulging from their necks, they spewed the same antisemitic bile that was heard in Germany in the 1930s and with the same beatings and bigotry we saw in Jim Crow America for nearly a century,” he said. Though Biden has repeatedly cited Charlottesville, he has come under criticism, as recently as five months ago, for not visiting the city following the protests.
“Charlottesville, Virginia,” were even the first two words Biden uttered when announcing his run for the White House.
Members of the Patriot Front march across Memorial Bridge in front of the Lincoln Memorial on Dec. 4, 2021, in Washington, D.C. The group broke off from the White nationalist group Vanguard America after the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Biden is now facing his own “Charlottesville moment,” as protests rage on college campuses stretching from Yale to the University of California, Berkeley, as anti-Israel students set up encampments while demanding their schools completely divest from Israel.
Protests had spread across the nation in October of last year, when Hamas launched its first attacks against Israel, sparking war. They have since intensified, including this month.
Protests at Columbia University and other schools have intensified since October. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
A Columbia professor told Fox Digital over the weekend that anti-Israel campus groups have morphed into becoming an “actual terror organization,” citing the protester who was seen holding a sign reading, “Al-Qasam’s (sic) next targets” that pointed toward Jewish students. A rabbi on Columbia’s campus has warned Jewish students to leave campus due to the antisemitism.
“The events of the last few days, especially last night, have made it clear that Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy,” Rabbi Elie Buechler wrote to students over the weekend. “It deeply pains me to say that I would strongly recommend you return home as soon as possible and remain home until the reality in and around campus has dramatically improved.”
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More than 100 protesters were arrested on Columbia’s campus last week, while dozens more were arrested on Yale’s and NYU’s campus this week.
Biden on Monday reiterated his condemnation of the violent protests, while facing criticisms online that his remarks echoed what Trump said in 2017 of the Charlottesville riots.
“I condemn the antisemitic protests. That’s why I have set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” Biden told reporters Monday.
Clashes at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, 2017. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“This sure sounds like he’s ACTUALLY saying there are very fine people on both sides,” OutKick founder Clay Travis said.
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“Joe Biden condemned what he called the ‘antisemitic bile’ of right-wing marchers in Charlottesville, Virginia, and called it a ‘defining moment’ for America. Today we’re witnessing Charlottesville happening on the campus of Columbia University but Biden is silent. This is a defining moment for this presidency. Will he keep pandering to the antisemitic left or confront it the way he did the antisemitic right?” Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen tweeted.
Anti-Israel agitators block roadways outside of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, on Monday, April 22, 2024. The protests are continuing after a week of demonstrations calling on the university to divest from military weapons manufacturers. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
American Spectator writer Nate Hochman noted, “I’m old enough to remember when ‘good people on both sides’ was evil and racist.”
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The Federalist’s editor-in-chief Mollie Hemingway wrote, “President Biden says there are good people on both sides of October 7.”
Earlier this month, Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who has openly supported Israel and condemned members of his own party for not doing the same, compared the protests unfolding on college campuses to Charlottesville.
Anti-Israel demonstrators on Columbia University’s campus in New York City on Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Peter Gerber for Fox News Digital)
“I fully agree with the White House – these ‘protests’ are antisemitic, unconscionable, and dangerous. Add some tiki torches and it’s Charlottesville for these Jewish students,” Fetterman tweeted as the Columbia protests intensified over the weekend.
Israel has become a lightning rod for the Democratic Party since October, with the party’s progressive faction, such as members of the Squad, coming under fierce condemnation from the Jewish community and conservatives for not taking harder stances against Hamas. Biden is even facing an “Abandon Biden” movement in battleground states such as Michigan and Wisconsin, stemming from the president’s support of Israel during its war in Gaza. The movement calls Israel’s actions “genocide.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign and the White House for comment on the matter Tuesday, but did not receive a response from either.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Lee and Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.
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Southeast
High school teacher arrested in alleged sex case involving student
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A Georgia high school teacher was arrested Wednesday after allegations of inappropriate contact between a teacher and a minor student surfaced at Lee County High School.
Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee, agent or foster parent, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI).
Lee County High School requested the Leesburg Police Department investigate the allegations on Feb. 3, and the GBI was called to assist the following day.
Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, Ga., is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee. (Lee County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigators identified Weaver as the “subject,” and identified the victim as a student under 18 years old at Lee County High School, according to officials.
GBI agents continued the investigation along with the Leesburg Police Department, and arrest warrants were obtained for Weaver on Tuesday.
A Google Maps street view photo of Lee County High School in Leesburg, Ga. (Google Maps)
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Weaver turned herself in to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, and was later released on bond, according to a report from WALB News.
This investigation is active and ongoing, according to the GBI.
The incident allegedly happened at a high school in Georgia. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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Once complete, the case file will be given to the Southwestern Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
Leesburg is located in South Georgia, and is about an hour and a half north of Tallahassee, Florida.
Lee County High School’s communications team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Southeast
Federal court clears way for Ten Commandments to be displayed in Louisiana public school classrooms
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A federal appeals court cleared the way Friday for a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms, lifting a lower court block and reigniting debate over religion in public education.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit voted 12-6 to lift a block first imposed in 2024, finding it was too early to determine the constitutionality of the law. Critics argue the requirement violates the separation of church and state, while supporters say the Ten Commandments are historical and foundational to U.S. law.
The court said in the majority opinion that it was unclear how schools would display the poster-sized materials, noting that the law allows additional content, like the Mayflower Compact or the Declaration of Independence, to appear alongside the Ten Commandments.
The majority wrote that there were not enough facts to “permit judicial judgment rather than speculation” when evaluating potential First Amendment concerns.
A federal appeals court on Friday lifted a lower court block on Louisiana’s Ten Commandments classroom law, bringing the measure closer to taking effect. (John Bazemore/AP)
In a concurring opinion, Circuit Judge James Ho, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote that the law was constitutional and “consistent with our founding traditions.”
“It is fully consistent with the Constitution, and what’s more, it reinforces our Founders’ firm belief that the children of America should be educated about the religious foundations and traditions of our country,” Ho said, adding that the law “affirms our Nation’s highest and most noble traditions.”
Circuit Judge James L. Dennis, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, wrote in a dissenting opinion that displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms would amount to “exposing children to government‑endorsed religion in a setting of compulsory attendance.”
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A federal appeals court ruling on Feb. 20 allows Louisiana’s Ten Commandments classroom mandate to proceed for now. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)
“That is precisely the kind of establishment the Framers anticipated and sought to prevent,” he added.
The ACLU of Louisiana and other groups representing the plaintiffs said they would pursue additional legal challenges to block the law.
“Today’s ruling is extremely disappointing and would unnecessarily force Louisiana’s public school families into a game of constitutional whack-a-mole in every school district,” the groups wrote in a joint-statement. “Longstanding judicial precedent makes clear that our clients need not submit to the very harms they are seeking to prevent before taking legal action to protect their rights.”
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Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry praised the appeals court decision on Feb. 20 allowing the Ten Commandments classroom law to move forward. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, file)
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Friday praised the court’s decision, writing on Facebook, “Common sense is making a comeback!”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill issued a statement following the ruling, saying schools “should follow the law.”
“Don’t kill or steal shouldn’t be controversial. My office has issued clear guidance to our public schools on how to comply with the law, and we have created multiple examples of posters demonstrating how it can be applied constitutionally,” she said.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said schools should follow the Ten Commandments display law after a federal appeals court lifted a lower court block on Feb. 20. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Joseph Davis, an attorney representing Louisiana in the case, celebrated the court’s decision.
“If the ACLU had its way, every trace of religion would be scrubbed from the fabric of our public life,” he said in a statement. “That position is at odds with our nation’s traditions and our Constitution. We’re glad the Fifth Circuit has allowed Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments in its public school classrooms.”
Friday’s ruling came after the full court agreed to reconsider the case, months after a three-judge panel ruled the Louisiana law unconstitutional.
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A similar law in Arkansas faces a federal court challenge, while Texas implemented its own Ten Commandments classroom requirement last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Southeast
Guy Fieri once had ‘nothing else to sign’ on the beach but postcards; now, he’s built a food TV empire
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MIAMI BEACH – Twenty years ago, a contestant named Guy Fieri on the second season of what was then “The Next Food Network Star” showed up at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival with little more than spiked hair and ambition.
“He came to that festival that year and was walking around signing postcards because he had nothing else to sign,” recalled Lee Brian Schrager, founder of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and its New York City counterpart.
Today, Fieri is one of the most recognizable faces in food on television. But, in 2006, he was just another up-and-comer working a crowd on the sand.
Speaking to “Fox & Friends” from Miami Beach, Florida, Friday morning, Fieri said he wasn’t chasing TV fame.
“I was doing what I wanted to do,” he told Steve Doocy while walking the beach. “I wanted to be a great dad. I wanted to be a great husband. I wanted to be a chef. I wanted to own my own restaurant. So, I had accomplished the things I wanted in life and never really saw the other side of it.”
South Beach Wine & Food Festival founder Lee Brian Schrager and celebrity chef Guy Fieri pose for a photograph back in 2009. (South Beach Wine & Food Festival)
Two decades later, Fieri still comes back.
“He’s been part of our festival every year since he won ‘Food Network Star,’” Schrager told Fox News Digital.
The knack for spotting and elevating talent is part of the festival’s legacy as it marks its 25th year in Miami Beach.
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Schrager recalled a similar instinct with Giada De Laurentiis. When her agent suggested she might be ready the following year, Schrager pushed back.
“I said, ‘I don’t want her next year. I want her this year so she’ll remember where she got her big start,’” Schrager said.
Giada De Laurentiis, pictured here in 2015, was another celebrity chef who got her start at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. (Manny Hernandez/Getty Images)
Yet the festival doesn’t claim to have created celebrity chefs.
“We don’t take responsibility for turning anyone into a superstar,” Schrager told Fox News Digital. “We do take some credit for giving them a platform and putting them in front of their fans.”
“Rock stars became chefs and chefs became rock stars.”
Over the past 20 years, the platform has grown alongside the broader transformation of food culture.
“Rock stars became chefs and chefs became rock stars,” Schrager said.
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What began as a one-day wine event on the campus of Florida International University evolved after Schrager was tasked with reimagining it. His directive was to “make it better — not bigger, but better.”
Schrager had a solution.
The South Beach Wine & Food Festival is where chefs like Fieri “became rock stars,” said Schrager, founder of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. (Jason Koerner/Getty Images)
“Move it to the beach, partner with the Food Network, get all their celebrities and make it more than just local,” Schrager said.
Today, the festival draws marquee names from the culinary world as well as from music and entertainment. Among those who showed up for Thursday night’s Burger Bash event were comedian Bert Kreischer and Cloud 23 hot sauce founder Brooklyn Peltz Beckham.
Chefs don’t get paid for appearances at the festival.
“If it’s somebody new, the first question out of their agent’s mouth is, ‘Oh, what’s the honorarium? What’s the fee?’ I’m like, ‘Zero,’” Schrager said.
Brooklyn Peltz Beckham is among the celebrities to attend the food festival for free. (Scott Roth/Invision/AP)
The model works, Schrager said, because the festival operates as a nonprofit benefiting FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management.
“Everyone’s doing it to support the cause, or they’re doing it because they want to do it,” Schrager said. “It’s not a bad place to be in the middle of winter.”
Schrager, left, appears along with Rachael Ray and Brooklyn Peltz Beckham onstage at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival’s Burger Bash. (Scott Roth/Invision/AP)
The festival has raised more than $50 million for student scholarships.
“To me, that’s why we do it,” Schrager said.
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Along the way, the festival has outlasted many imitators and weathered shifting food trends by staying nimble.
“We listened to the consumers,” Schrager said.
Fieri, left, and a shirtless Bert Kreischer share a moment onstage at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. (Jason Koerner/Getty Images)
“There was never any ego involved in this festival.”
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He added, “Our goal was never to be the biggest.”
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“It happens that we turned out to be the biggest, but being the best, or at least doing our best, has always been the most important to me.”
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